Ugandans turn Kampala’s uncollected garbage into versatile fuel
November 30, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
Cement kilns are used to transform waste, which would otherwise pollute the city, into a fuel that suits petrol engines
Fred Kyagulanyi and James Sendikwanawa used to get up in the dark to dump bags of rubbish in Kampala‘s suburbs. Trying not to be spotted, they would sneak past the houses of sleeping neighbours and throw the bags on to the roadside or toss them in drains.
“We would wait several days until we had many bags and then make a trip,” Kyagulanyi says. “We were embarrassed, even if nobody was watching us at the time.”
Without a proper waste collection and management system, such nocturnal enterprises are not unusual in Uganda. These days, however, the two men turn rubbish into fuel. The friends have honed a technique to produce what Kyagulanyi calls “non-fossil fuel”, made from refuse such as plastic bottles, polythene bags and organic waste.
Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa, who are from Ndegye, a township about 17km outside the Ugandan capital, were inspired to find a use for rubbish after waking each morning to find piles of garbage thrown by other people.
“We decided that we would try to find a solution to deal with garbage,” says Kyagulanyi. “So we began researching how we could put it to good use.”
The pair had dropped out of school before their final exams, but Sendikwanawa had always had an interest in chemistry. It occurred to him that each year hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste were piling up in Kampala and around other towns across Uganda and that perhaps he could do something with it all.
The result of their research can be found in a factory, little more than a corrugated iron roof held up with wooden poles. Here they use cement kilns to turn rubbish into fuel.
The men are heroes among the boda boda (motorbike taxi) riders who buy fuel from them at around $ 1 a litre – half the price of the petrol stations. Other customers include local car drivers and the neighbourhood video hall manager.
“We have three types of petrol here,” Kyagulanyi explains. “We have ‘super’, we have ‘premium’ and also we have ‘pure’. This is our factory language but in the language of fossil fuels, it can be called unleaded premium or benzene. But ours is very different so we have different names.”
“We use all types of waste from plants, plastic bottles, shoe soles and all different types of organic waste,” Kyagulanyi says. “We use all that waste to make fuel that runs petrol engines,” adds Sendikwanawa, who is known as “engineer” in Ndegye Township due to his day job: fixing biogas digesters on pit latrines.
He says they had originally tried turning waste into manure and fertilisers, hoping to sell it to farmers, but found there was little demand. However, with fuel prices soaring they knew they would have an eager market if they could power engines. Kyagulanyi found out about biodiesel during a four-year stint working in Germany. When he returned to Uganda he brought back literature on biodiesel, which inspired Sendikwanawa, who, he says, is the brains behind the project.
The men dry and sort the rubbish then heat it in kilns to produce a crude oil. A catalyst is added to produce different types of fuel. It is a process known as catalytic pyrolysis, in which material is heated at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Pyrolysis is the basis of several methods being developed around the world as a means of producing fuel from crops or waste products.
The pair admit there were a few hiccups, but they kept experimenting until they had a breakthrough in early 2009. Now they can process up to two tonnes of garbage a day.
Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa have formed Lat Photo Energy Uganda Limited and hope to ramp up production, pointing out there is no shortage of raw material for their fuel.
Kampala’s suburbs are choked with tonnes of uncollected waste, with city officials estimating that each person generates 0.2 tonnes of waste annually. Michael Mudanye, a waste engineer for Kampala council, says the city generates an estimated 1,500 tonnes of garbage a day, three-quarters of which rots uncollected on the streets, or gets thrown into in sewerage outlets and water channels, some of which run into Lake Victoria.
“So far we can only produce 100 litres of fuel a day,” says Kyagulanyi. We hope to increase the production if we get partners to expand our kilns. The challenge is that some people are still doubtful that our fuel works. We are now out to show the nation that we can produce enough fuel for everyone to run their vehicles while cleaning up all the rubbish left lying around the country.”
Uganda’s state minister for energy, Simon Du’janga, said he was aware that some gas and fuel could be obtained from garbage but his message to Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa was: “Tell those fellows they should not waste their time. It is a very costly process with very little output.”
However, Lat Photo Energy Uganda appears to be proving him wrong. The company may be small but it’s doing steady business.
Raj Kaakeeto is a boda boda rider and one of Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa’s regular customers. He says at first he doubted whether the fuel would work. “One day I had no money yet I needed fuel. So I bought some of their fuel and mixed it with the little that I had in the tank. I was surprised – it worked,” he says. He likes it because it’s a lot cheaper than the regular petrol.
Jimmy Lutakome, another resident in the area, testifies that the fuel works well in petrol engine generators. He says: “The fuel lasts longer if you mix it with that from the petrol stations. I have been saving about 2,000 shillings per day [about 90 cents] compared to the past.”
Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa have a grander vision than just providing cheaper fuel for their neighbours. “We thought we should be part of the solution to the global demand for environmentally beneficial practice. And I think we are succeeding,” Sendikwanawa says. “We only need to expand the capacity of our kiln and distilleries and we shall clean up the city of waste.”
Alex Salmond unveils plan to turn Scotland into ‘world’s first hydro-economy’
September 8, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
Proposed legislation would allow state-owned Scottish Water to use vast landbank and pipe network for renewable energy projects
The state-owned utility Scottish Water is to be given new powers to build windfarms, hydro schemes and “green” power stations in partnership and competition with established energy companies.
The company, one of the country’s last remaining state-owned firms, could generate £300m or more in extra revenues by using its 80,000 acres of land and vast pipe network for renewable energy projects.
The proposal was unveiled by Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, in his government’s last legislative programme before next May’s Scottish elections. He claimed it would turn Scotland into “the world’s first hydro-economy – wisely exploiting our water to help drive our economy”.
Salmond is resisting pressure to convert Scottish Water into a mutualised company under public ownership, similar to Welsh Water, to generate much-needed revenue and offset cuts of up to £3.7bn expected in next month’s spending review.
The Conservatives and Salmond’s own economic advisers believe mutualisation would immediately raise up to £3bn for the Treasury, with £1bn going to the Scottish government, and save the taxpayer £140m a year in loans.
Salmond, an enthusiast for renewable energy investment, said that the company would remain entirely in public ownership, while having much greater freedom to exploit commercial opportunities that would eventually allow it to become self-financing and self-sufficient.
“They have identified potential for new economic activity in other business areas of some hundreds of millions in the medium term,” he told the Scottish parliament. “If we give Scottish Water room to grow, then we have the makings of a great Scottish company, in public ownership.”
Scottish Water, which has annual revenues of about £1bn and assets worth £5.5bn, is the UK’s fourth-largest water company. It owns about 80,000 acres, including high ground with great potential value for onshore wind and hydro schemes.
The company hopes the legislation proposed by Salmond will allow its fledgling commercial services division, called Harmony, to drive its new energy projects. The Tories hope to amend the water bill with Labour support, forcing the SNP to mutualise the company.
The utility is also in talks about joint projects with some of the largest players in renewables and potential competitors, which are thought to include Scottish and Southern Energy and ScottishPower.
Richard Ackroyd, the company’s chief executive, said: “Our success in reducing our carbon footprint and expanding our work into renewables and recycling is helping to put Scottish Water in a position where it can make a real contribution to the environmental challenges facing Scotland.”
Scottish and Southern Energy, the UK’s largest hydro-electricity producer, would not comment directly on Scottish Water’s entry into the energy market. “There are other people who are becoming players in the market all the time; we wouldn’t have any comment to make on Scottish Water becoming part of that,” a spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for ScottishPower’s renewables arm welcomed Scottish Water’s involvement, saying: “Scotland has a wealth of renewable energy opportunities and we are keen to see the country fulfil its renewables potential. Investment from both the public and private sector will be critical in achieving this.”