Two PSU researchers have been recognized for their outstanding research for the benefit of the community in 2012, regarding the following projects.

Cattle in Surat Thani Province

One awarded project was “The Study of Potential Production of Cattle and Beef Cattle in Surat Thani Province”, carried out by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Opart Pimpa, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Industrial Technology, PSU Surat Thani Campus. Dr. Opart said: “The majority of the population in Surat Thani Province engages in agricultural production, including planting rubber trees and oil palm trees for a living. Some of them keep raising beef cattle as a part-time job as well. However, while the oil palm plantations dramatically increase, raising beef cattle surprisingly decreases, leading to the question whether beef cattle can co-exist with oil palm trees.”

Biogas Production to Replace Firewood

The other awarded project was “Application of Anaerobic Co-digester for Treating Sheet Factory Wastewater for Biogas Production to Replace Firewood in Small Cooperative Rubber Sheet Factories”, conducted by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sumate Chaiprapat from the PSU Faculty of Engineering, Hat Yai Campus. Dr. Sumate mentioned: “This research has been carried out in the Rubber Fund Cooperative Limited, under the support of the Ministry of Energy of Thailand. The Rubber Fund Cooperative Limited provides an opportunity for agriculturists throughout the country and also from some foreign countries to make study visits. We need the cooperation of the Ministry of Energy and Office of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund in order to support biogas production to become standard for building smoked rubber sheet plants in Thailand.”