Energy from Faeces: Big Opportunities for Non-sewered and Integrated Community Sanitary Systems in Africa
TOSIN ONABANJO, PHDRESEARCH FELLOW, ENERGY AND POWER, CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY, UK
CHALLENGES
70% Nigeria
90% Niger
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation
85% Ghana 44% South
Africa
─ Lack of safe, clean and accessible toilet
CHALLENGES
open dump of faecesCourtesy: dailymail/africandevelopment/tribuneng
CHALLENGES
Unsustainable use of natural resources –water, land, energy,
Expensive to build, operate and maintain
Typically, not safely treated
Conventional Flush Toilet
CHALLENGES TO OPPORTUNITIES
WASTE
RESOURCE
DISPOSAL
RESOURCE
RECOVERY
OPPORTUNITIES
Currently being developed at Cranfield
University
Household-scale: 10 Users
Waterless flush
Odour control
Dewatering mechanism
Energy recovery
HOUSEHOLD SCALE: NANO-MEMBRANE TOILET
OPPORTUNITIES
Streets, Hospitals, Markets, Schools, Public Transportation &
Facilities
INTEGRATED COMMUNITY SANITARY SYSTEMS
OPPORTUNITIES
1.24 TJ of energy per 1000
persons in Africa
345 GWh of electricity daily
1,380,000 persons daily
ENERGY IN HUMAN FAECES
2.5% Zimbabwe
0.2% Nigeria
1.3% Ghan
aor
Mayotte,Seychelles,
Saint Helena Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
3 African Countries
100%
OPPORTUNITIES
NEXT-GENERATION SANITARY SOLUTIONS energy water
nutrients
appropriate solutions for Africans
environmentally safe
treat human waste safely
resource utilisation &
recovery
affordable, sustainable & financially profitable
‘off the grid’
developed/developing
nations
<US$.05 cents/user/daywithout connections to
water, sewer, or electrical lines
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
Product DevelopmentCertification/Audit/MonitoringAppropriate SolutionsCapacity BuildingAppropriate PoliciesCommunity Awareness/TrainingSustainable Business Models