RESEARCH PLAN

Proposed study:
MAKING A DRY-WOOD TERMITES KILLER USING
PURE POMELO OIL EXTARCT
BRIDGET HOPE T. LIU
AJAY FROY R. VICENTE
Proponents, Davao Chong Hua High School

AL JUSTINE LESMIS
Research Adviser

A. Research Topic

Can pure pomelo oil extract totally kill dry-wood termites?

Can the termites also be harmful to people?

Are the termites only attracted to wood materials?

B. Hypothesis
1. If the pure pomelo oil extract will be used for the spray, then it will be able to
totally kill the termites.
2. If the termites can damage and be harmful for the wood materials, they would be
also harmful to people.
3. If the termites are attracted to wood materials they would also be attracted with
Cellulose materials and moist soils.

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C. Procedure
The following materials listed below are needed for the experiment:
a. Pomelo
b. Peeler
c. Container
d. Squeezer
e. Spray

First, we need to gather all the stuffs, that we are going to use for this study.

1. Peel the skin of pomelo into small pieces, and make sure there are no fruit included.
2. Make sure to remove the rind of the fruit with a peeler or knife and place it to the
side, you can still reuse the leftover ones.
3. Get the squeezer and put the small pieces of pomelo skin little by little.
4. Squeeze the pomelo skin with strong strength by our hands in order to let more
extract drop from its skin, and should be dropped properly in the container.
5. When done squeezing, put the squeezed extract inside the container in the spray
bottle gently so that there won’t be any spill while transferring the extract.

D. Risk and Safety

The researchers should be careful of the materials specially when the person has an allergy
with it and make sure to not to direct the fire while boiling the pomelo for making its oil, just to avoid
some burnt to happen with the person.

a. Check if you have an particular allergy with the main material that is used in the experiment:
Pomelo.
b. When cutting and peeling the pomelo we should make sure that we won’t have any cuts and put
it in a proper every before and after use.
c. Should be careful with the splash when the pomelo skin was squeezed, lab glasses should be
worn or squeeze the pomelo with a small distance from eyes .

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E. Disposal of Waste Material

In this study we are only going to use the pomelo’s skin, which means we won’t be able to use its
fruit. The fruit of the pomelo contains high amounts of fiber, that helps maintaining the balance in
the digestive system. It promotes healthy digestion and smooth movement of bowels in the digestive
tract, therefor helping us avoid diarrhea and constipation. It can also be used for fertilizers, for the
plants we have at home; and also an freshener to keep the indoor smell good.

ABSTRACT

Our study is all about using pomelo peel to make an oil extract that can let us get rid of dry-wood
termites. The researchers have chosen this study to get to know what and how can they avoid the
dry-wood termites that are around their wooden furniture and other materials; They also wanted to
know would the pomelo oil be effective to the dry-wood termites. Because pomelos are one of the
common fruits in the Philippines, which you can buy it in a cheaper price or even harvest from your
farm. The researchers decided to study first what termites can cause to our human being, then
continually they will study the advantages of the pomelo has. And they also researched about the
termites, which has three types of it, subterranean termites, dry-wood termites, damp wood termites.
And because dry-wood termites are more common in tropical countries, which the Philippines is one
of it, they wanted to solve the problem about it, seeing the termites around their old-wood furniture
is annoying sometimes and what they want to do is to kill the termites permanently using one of
things that termites are afraid of. At last, they will be needed to use pomelo’s peel to make oil extract
from it, using cold pressing. Using cold pressing can make sure that our extract doesn’t involve
chemicals for extraction.

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 INTRODUCTION

This study is all about how to avoid termites that are usually seen in wooden furniture or other objects.
From what we have researched, we knew that the bites or stings of the termites, its heating or ventilation
systems can especially contribute to the spread of irritating particles and dust from their nests. And for other
possibilities, some people may even be allergic to termite saliva or droppings. Although preventing termites
may not be seen as an essential step in protecting personal health, doing so can lower the risk of unwanted
health problems. We can sometimes find them from leaky pipes, improper drainage, and poor airflow that
create moisture issues, can attract termites. Damp-wood and subterranean termites in particular thrive in
humid environments. (Action Termite Control,2014)

To make sure that we are able to kill or to rid from termites, we should first make sure that the things
we are going to use are effective and capable. We decided to use pure pomelo oil as our main component.
Pomelo, we need to use the typical pomelo, because it is larger than the grapefruit, and also have much
thicker rind. The flesh has none, or even very little, of the common grapefruit’s bitterness. Its enveloping
membranous material around the segments is bitter, can considered inedible, and usually discarded.

Pomelo primarily contains D-Limonene which combats termites aside from it’s several benefits. It is
extracted from the skin of various citrus fruit including the citrus of the pomelo. As a rind bio-product, D-
Limonene is a green and safe product. It also has a more pleasing scent unlike other chemical insecticide.

Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of
order Isopterans (see taxonomy below), but are now accepted as the epifamily Termiticide, of the
cockroach order Blattodea. While termites are commonly known, especially in Australia, as "white ants,"
they are only distantly related to the ants.

The experiment that we are going to study –Dry-Wood Termites Killer will be conducted at Davao
Chong Hua High School in the Science Laboratory by two students, Bridget Hope T. Liu and Ajay Froy R.
Vicente. The Processes that will be used are preparatory phase, cutting, mixing, turning and designing. In
this study, we could be able to get rid from termites that is effecting our health and life in an easy way

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 RESULTS

The results shows the difference between spraying different amount of the pomelo oil extract
on the wood surface where the dry-wood termites are crawling . First we need to make sure that the
dry-wood termites are separated in to three plasticwares or boxes, and the wood should be cut and
separated, too. Each of it has 10-12 dry-wood termites with it to make sure the experiment is stable
and can be able to check easily. The results from our experiment also shows that the more (dry-
wood termites killer) pomelo oil extract we spray the more it can be able to kill termites. If the pomelo
oil extract we spray is just a little, it can only be able to slow down the termite’s speed, which means
it can only stick their legs or wings to avoid their activities, but would not be able to kill them.

Times of Trial Process Sequels

1 (pure)Pomelo oil extract 10 minutes later 20% of
sprayed 2 times on the the dry-wood termites on
surface where the dry- the surface are not
wood termites mostly are moving(are dead) . The
rest are only stickled by
the oil we spray
2 (pure)Pomelo oil extract 10 minutes later 40% of
sprayed 4 times on the the dry-wood termites on
surface where the dry- the surface are not
wood termites mostly are moving(are dead). The
rest are only stickled by
the oil we spray
3 (pure)Pomelo oil extract 10 minutes later 60% of
sprayed 6 times on the the dry-wood termites on
surface where the dry- the surface are not
wood termites mostly are moving(are dead). The
rest are only stickled by
the oil we spray
From the first three trials that were just checked within 10 minutes. It shows that the more amount
we spray the more termites will be killed.

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 Trial Process Sequels
1 (pure)Pomelo oil extract 24 hours later, most of the
sprayed 8 times on the dry-wood termites are not
surface where the dry- moving, and only few of
wood termites mostly are them doesn’t have signs
of life.
2 (pure)Pomelo oil extract 48 hours later, half of the
sprayed 8 times on the termites are not moving,
surface where the dry- and their wood seemed
wood termites mostly are not being bitten anymore,
and most of the termites
are dead.
3 (pure)Pomelo oil extract 72 hours later, all of the
sprayed 8 times on the termites are not moving
surface where the dry- and the wood is not bitten
wood termites mostly are by them. All of the termites
inside has no signs of life.
Table1.2 We have compared the same amount of the pomelo oil extract but in different time after
the experiment, and we have seen that the termites are affected to the pomelo oil extract.

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 DISCUSSION

The experiment was done by testing the pomelo oil extract to the dry-wood termites. Researchers
will prove if the pomelo oil can kill the termites. And we have seen different results from our
experiment.

CONCLUSION

After having the results of the experiment and data gathered, the researchers came up with
the following conclusions:

 Pomelo oil can be used as alternative for dry-wood termite repellant.

 In order to make the repellant it needs more pomelo to be more effective.
 High-acidic fruits can kill termites.

RECOMMENDATION

The researcher recommend that instead of throwing Pomelo peels, collect it in order to save money
by making alternative termites repellant. Also, more experiments must be conducted in making an
alternative termites repellant.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research paper was made possible through the help and support from the researcher’s
friends that gave them some awesome ideas for this study, and for their parents who are able to
provide the materials and other things they needed to use for the experiment no matter how busy
they were with their works. And specially, to our English Principal Mr. Walter B. Valencerina who
always there to guide and support us in our science investigatory project, Mr.Al Justine Lesmis
that is able to give us good advices and better ways to correct our mistakes in order to complete
our research. And of course to our heavenly Almighty God, who was always there to give me
knowledge and strength for this investigatory project.

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 REFERENCES

"Termites". Australian Museum. Retrieved 8 January 2015.

Sun, Q.; Haynes, K.F.; Zhou, X. (2013). "Differential undertaking response of a lower termite to
congeneric and conspecific corpses". Scientific Reports. 3:
1650. Bibcode:2013NatSR...3E1650S. doi:10.1038/srep01650. PMC 3629736. PMID 23598990.

Prestwich, G. D.; Bentley, B.L.; Carpenter, E.J. (1980). "Nitrogen sources for neotropical nasute
termites: Fixation and selective foraging". Oecologia. 46 (3): 397–
401. Bibcode:1980Oecol..46..397P. doi:10.1007/BF00346270. ISSN 1432-1939. PMID 28310050.

Neoh, K.B.; Lee, C.Y. (2011). "Developmental stages and caste composition of a mature and
incipient colony of the drywood termite, Cryptotermes dudleyi (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae)". Journal
of Economic Entomology. 104 (2): 622–8.

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 Appendix A

Gather and ready the materials peel the pomelo skins into small pieces

make sure the squeezed extract is

put the pomelo skins inside the drop properly in the container
squeezer

put the termites inside the container for

put the extracts from the pomelo skins the experiment, for checking the effect of
inside the spray bottle the dry-wood termite killer

(10 mins)after spraying different

amount of dry-wood termite killer,