University of Nigeria Virtual Library

Serial No ISSN: 1478-9868

Author 1 ONWURA N.E Ikechukwu

Author 2 NWADIOGBU Victor Ogugua

Author 3 OTIJOTU Olawale

Title

Integrated Environmental

Biotechnology-Oriented Framework for Solid waste Management and Control in

Nigeria

Keywords Solid Waste; Recycling;

Biotechnological Conversion; Biogas; Organic Fertilizer; Landfill

Description

Integrated Environmental Biotechnology-

Oriented Framework for Solid waste Management and Control in Nigeria

Category Biochemistry

Publisher Inder Science Publishers

Publication Date 2006

Signature

\\:~v\v.iiiderscici~~~.~~i~~ - 1111. .I. vl ' Lnvi l-o~l l i icnt and Wastc iVlanagc~nent - IJEWIM Page 1 o l ' 4 . ,

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Internatronal .-rournal of Environment and Waste Management ~ l J E \ f l W ISSN IGnlinef: 1478-9868 - ISSN (Pr in t ) : 7478-9876

Published In 4 issues per year (Vlew f-. adxtr!!: t :on P r i c ~ )

IJEWM is a refereed re ference and authoritative source of information in the field of environmental and waste management Together with its sister publications IJEQ. IJETM and IJGEnvl. it provides a comprehensive coverage of env i ronmen ta l issues. I t covers both engineeringltechn~caland management so tu t ions .

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Integrated environmental biotechnology-oriented framework for solid waste management and control in Nigeria

lkechukwu Noel Emmanuel Onwurah"

Victor Nwadiogbu Ogugua and Olawale F. Otitoju

I<rl'crc~~l~c IU thlc 11;11ic1 \IIoIII(I 111' III;I~C' ;IS l 'o l Io \ \ \ : O n \ ~ ~ ~ r : l i l . I . N . l ~ . , ~ I I I V . ; I 0 t i I o 1 0 0 0 i ' I I I~c~I ; I Iu I c n v i ~ o n ~ i ~ e ~ i I : ~ I l~iot~*cli~iology-oric111c(f I'I~IIII~WOI~ l o t . so l id \v;~ste ~ l l : l m l p i i c n t :lnd c o 1 1 t ~ i 1 ill Nigeria' . 1111. . I . /~;I~I~II-~~IIIJI~III (III(/ Ii1(t\/(, I\,~(III(I,~(,~II~JIII. V o l . I . N o , I . pp.94 - 104.

Wastes ohtainctl fro ti^ I I I I I I I ~ ~ O I I S ;~ctivitics can l,c gascorts sr~cli as carhori dioxitlc (CO,). liytlrogcri s~~lpllitlc (11,s). c a ~ h o ~ i nio~iositlc (('0): licluitl (c.g. intlustriirl cf'f'lrlclir) or solid ( c .p ~iiunicip:il \vi~stc). 'I'l~crc. ;wc origoi~iy hioteclir~ologiciil ~ t s m r c h acti\:itic,s l'or clci~ti rrp 01. l l~esc air- poIlt~t;~nts : I I I ~ odortr i~lwtcnitmt. using ~t i icroo~-y:~~~is~i is . Tlic avi~il:~l~ilily ant1 ovc.rc.ori.;r~~~,ptior~ 01' tcl;~livc.l!/ clic;~li agr'ic~lll~lr;~l protlr~ctc :11i(I otlicr at~icriitics 1ii1vc c o n t ~ ~ i t ~ ~ ~ t c d to t l~c pt~oblenis ol' e t ~ \ ~ i ~ . o ~ i ~ i i c ~ ~ t : ~ I poll~llion atid degradation. Strcati~s of solid wi~stc arc gclicratctl fr-oni hottscholtl.;, shops. officrs. scl~ools. niarket and intlu.;trics. A typical solitl \vaslc car1 iliclt~tlc s:~ntl. gr;ivcl, iroli, nlulniniurii. ci~rtllloartl and hiotlegri~(l;hlc orpnics (hiowaste). 111 Ihe so~~t l i -c :~s t zone of' Nigcri~. o ~ i e call ohscrvc a huge Imcklog of solid w;lstc cirlnips. :I< a I-esrtlt o f the rapidly growing population, iricrcasing ~lrl,anisatio~i and i~itlr~strinlisi~tio~i, colnhincd \villi improper disposal systclns. It is npparcnt that land disposal and i n c i n c t ~ ~ ~ i ~ ' ~ i could hc adequate long-tcrni solrltions. i f put in place ; I I K I t ~ i ;~~ i i~pcd propet-ly. to counter the increztsc in rate of solid \v:~ste gc~leration ;~nd its attcntla~ir envit.oti~ivmt;~l degradation iri Nigeria. As ;I

cleati environnlcnt is dcpetltlent on sorln(l cnvirontnental ~n;lri;lgenierit, waste generators. researchers and Ihe p le tnnient 1:111st consitlcr and i~nplemerlt effective and cconomic alternatives.

2 A fraoicwork for solid masfc nianagement for South-East, Nigeria

Wastc III;III;I~~I~~CII~ itcti\'itics illclutlc r~~ i t i i~ i i i s ;~ t ion . corwce reduction. recycling :uid trunsl~or-t ;111cl ;I wl'c disposal ol' II~II-rccovcral~lc residues. These wi l l have an incrcasitlgly il~il)o~.t;itit i11l)lll i t 1 the I '~~nctiot l i t i j ! oI' out. ' it iterli;~l III;II.~c'~', I7or exanlple. soiid w a w p rc \ , c~~ t i on 01, ~ ~ i i t ~ i r i ~ i s i ~ t i o ~ i \\till 1xt(111ire I~iolecl i t ioloyy : ~ p p I i ~ i ~ t i o t l ( w c Pjgi~re I ) . espc.cially lot I)iotlegl.atl;~l~l(- o r g i ~ ~ r i c ~ . Alco 1.cclrtitxx1 is :I 1iictii1~r;rne teclinology l'or the

having constant he;itl:~che without ;~dtltwsing the ca lm. This in~plies that c\.crchod!.. including the gowrntiietll. tilust he itlvolvetl i l l all aspects of' waste riiim;igernent. Tliet-e i \ no single coniprehensive tre;llnletit tccllnology for general niis of solid wastc. It is

therefore necessary to separate the solid waste coln;x)ner~ts according to their physical antl chernical clialactcristics. whereby each group IS trcatccl with a process tle~igned for srlch unique chiiracteristics. 'I'hc trcatnient technologies can he grouped into three hroad areas - physical. clwnic;~l and Iiological. These three together can con~titlitc 'process atld prorlt~ct integralctl enviro~inlen~al tcchnologie,s' (Vandevivere ntitl

Process integrated technologies separation

- . .r selective

I Riodegradabie organics

Area of process Biotechnologlcal processes and production

integrated --I '1' technologies

treatments to I recover raw 1 materials

Reusable

Production integrated technologies

Small- and Medium- Scale Enterprises

Humus end Biogas product (energy) 1 i

Goods and services

Collection arid trnlispol~tntioti are two arew of solid waste tnatiagernent that need spccid attention in Nigeria. They rcquire at least 95% of accurate knowlctlge o f the types antl qu;tntity of' solid waste I7ci1ig petieratctl on daily hasis. The number of vel~icles : I I ~

niachilies f'or hnulngc rtnd triinsport;1tit,11 and their rtiaintenarice can thcn he projected to a higher tlegl-ce or accuracy. Collectio~l of solid waste In this contest mews pronipt removal frolu tit~tnpsitcs within urban arms to sorting centres or Inntlf'ill. Weak financial hasc and ul~dcclic;~teci staff hnvc riiilitatetl against the strccess of this ;~pproacli. To i r~crexe the fin;inci:ll Iwse of the rcfllse-transporting :Igency. residents are to pay special taxes directly or indirectly. inrlircct paytnent can he through payment for the sl'ccial hags or containers for I~ousel~old solid waste. This can he enforced by legislalion. When the hags arc filled with waste, fresh ones wortltl he hooglit. IHence. the more hags returned. tlic I ~ I O I . ~ [he pay~iicrit. Soli(l w s t e so collected could be sorted before finill transportation to thc landfill site outsitlc the urban area.

A srrstai~i;~ldc ;rpp~.oacl~ t o solitl wilste ~ilntl:tg~nlellt is cxpectctl t o he an integrated syqteni (SCC 1:igul.c 2 ) . Scpalx~erl c o ~ i l p o ~ i c ~ ~ ~ s of solitl n x t c call he trued as r:~w riiater-ialu for pt'orlr~cir~g lieu1 gootlc atit1 service\. tl,c~.cly gener;lting rcvcmue arid creirling eniplo>li~e~lt oppo~~tr~riilics. 'l'lic arcas of' rcc).cliug alitl rc~icc i l l solid waste ri1a11:1pe1iie11t arc the 'process itilcgrafctf and ~~roclr~clion intcp.;~teiI er~\.it.oti~~~c~~IirI technologies' (see Figare 2 ) . I<ecycling. \vhicIi in\wlves separation. collcc(iot~ :11ic1 tlal~sport. requires fullding for a,ayc\, I'ucl, veliiclcc atltl iril'txctlnctr~rc. 'l'rninctl pcr-sonnel can ewluate the cost of ~.cc)icli~rg .;clic~r~ws 1'01- solitl \ \~ i~$lc c:oriipo~ic~~ts, licc.yclinp ~ii ;~kcs financial scnse i f tlic lie1 l'i11:11i~ii11 co\l of ~.ecycli~ig a~i( l cIi\posi~l is lwi lIi;111 tlie l'i~i:~~icial costs ol' 1I1c ltxst disposal op~ion. t:or horrseholtl w~stcs . so~.lirip out the liotlegrwtl;~ble organics f'r,on~ other solitl \V;IS~C Iwli)~-c dc1)ositi1ig ~ I I C U.;IS~C i l l ; I I ~ ;rpp~-ovc(I ~111111psitc .;lio111~1 hecolne mandatory. 'l'his approach rcdr~ces or prc\wtn cnvirontnc~~tal pollution. Flowever. lor u l h n scltlerr~cr~(s, whct.c s~lilr~hlc la~~dl'ill tlisposal cites are locirtetl too far away. tlispowl cosls will Ile reli~tivcly high. 'l'l~c cotii~nu~iily will 11aj.e to p y for tlie bulk Iiarllngc 01. the .;oliti \v;~sk O \ ~ C I ' lony tlist;~~ic.c.s.

Solid waste qeneratlon polnt 1 Unseparated solid

separated solid waste waste

Environmental I market

AREA OF ADDITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL l - ~ o ~ w ~ - - TECHNOLOGIES

(INCLUDING BIOTECHNOLOGY)

12andl~ill disposal of' solid wastes still re~iiairis ;in iniport:~~~t component of a n y future management str:~lcgy i n llie so~~t l~ -eas t ;.'one of Nipe1.i~. Ho\vever. i t will require ;I n lr~cl~ ri1o1-c sophistici~tctl and an cnpincrrctl .;ct ol' optwtioris than i t is currently used. 'Sccure landfills'. ;IS they are calletl. are syntlictically l i w t l tlepression (or pits) in tlic grountl for burying solitl waste. 'i'lie leachate sliorrld be collwtcd thrnugli a series of pipes buried ;~bovc rhc lincr antl rcgul;irSy prtnipetl lo the st~rl'i~cc Sot treattncrit. Sec~n-e lardfills tliffer- Il.0111 sanitary Ii~tltll'ills i n that the S O I . I I I ~ I C ~ I I he useti for c[iflCreilt mix 01' solitl \wstr< wl~ilc the latter cnliliot. Sccure lal~cll'ills i l 11ot cnpitieesecl. should be located in >Ireas \ \ i t 1 1 in~pw~iei; \>le ciay or silt soil tI1;it p~.ovides natiltal cont:rinment of wastc so that liquid ienchatc cannot exit the co~itair~li ic~~t ;ircn. I ' li~~s, llie nvewge cost of solid waste tlicposal in enyiriee~vtl Iantll'ills will rise. I I I a total latidl'ill optiori. \ \ / i t 1 1 recycling or reuse of n.astc coniponcnts. coct w o ~ ~ l t l well he 11ipl1c1- wit11 Icss cncrgp rt.co\wy.

An engincct-ctl l;~nclfill can be constrr~ctcti for the purpose of liliai tlisposal 01' biotlcgrad:hle org;inlcs as ;III altcrnatc for i~nacrolic or aerohic colnposling plants. In I;tntlfills. tile I I I I I I N I S compost may 1 3 o t be recovcrctl hr~t 111;1!~ become n future sitr For Sorestr-y (Shanks and McIlw;~n. 1098). I.;~ridl'ill site will omal ally h a w sevetxl pits or cells, each I i a \~ i t i~ ;i clcpth of'qlproui~iiatcly 30 111 will1 ill1 ;II.C;I or 64 rn nnd void of about 8 ~nillion n ~ ' . A 2-111 thick seal is ~~cciurtxxi i1I the base and at the skies of tllc pits wit11 ;I p c r ~ ~ ~ w h i l i t y 1 1 0 1 exceedit~g 10 'I III/SCC. /\!so ;I clay cap (tlesipnetl to keep \vwtcr- and landfill g ;~s out) 01' 1 111 tliickncs\ is ~ w l r ~ i ~ c t l will1 :I pt.~~iicability not exceecling 10 " m/sec. ibl- hiogas prodr~ction, contl.ol ;~nd utilisation. an environmental gas control system is installed. 7'11is is extended lo each ccll alter cot~~pletely fillctl antl sealed. WI~cri as many as 60 wells are drilled at nlaturity. a rci~sonabie quantity of gas can be supplied to the gcncl-ating slalion. Gas sopply ran rcitch ;ibont 5600 ni7/hr ant1 can generate aborrt 2.7 MW ol' elcctt-icily (Shanks and McGwari. IWX). This is a good example of rion-l'ossil po\ver yenerator.

AREA OF ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

1 Landfill I Final disposal I 7 .. .- C'

Aerobic composting or Anaerobic composting r I I I Biogas

Aerobic compost

Anaerobic humus compost Electric power

(organic fertlliser)

I lnoculatton wlth beneflclal microorganisms for exampte.

I---. N-flxing bacterln or rnycorrhlzae or bioconlrol

nilcroorganisms

Enriched compost

- for degradation of xenobiotic compound. - for resloratlon of oil-polluled soil

71'tic success of ;Illy integr-atccl process will depend on atlequate data. Increilsed precision ahwt the quantity arid quality of solitl \v:istc being generated froni different cotnrnunities is essentiai for mtiotial decision-rliaking and efficient :ind economical waste collection. processing ant1 tlis1,osal systems. It is not c!ew whether any statistically significant waste generation rates h;ive ever beer1 cstirnated or i l ' such was nlatle recently for any of the cities within ~ h c so~~tii-cast ;lone 01' Nigeria. At least ?5% of accurate inforniation is urgently nccrlctl for per c;~l,it;~ solid waste genc~.ation and coniposition for dfective matiapetiic.nt strategies to he in~plenic~~tctl. Siniil;irly. a good colii~nr~riicntit,n is essential to achieve sr~cccss. Inst;~ll;ition of riiotle~.~~ cotnnir~nication technologies, which will permit informatio~i cxchange o n waste generation. rccyclinglreuse products, the hiotlegrntlation prograninie and tlic Iar~tlfill systcrn. will allow a good cooperation arnong SMEs I'unctioning within the environmental industry. The use of' Information 'I'cchnolog~ ( IT) sys t c~~ i s has already proven i~ivalunhle within the biological sciences antl also hell~ctl lo clwify tlic i~ i~mensc possihilitics th;~t exist i n using biological systenls iis c;~talysts of intlustrial proccsscs. F<lcclronic nail and the internet ilre expected to play critical roles i n conin~ur~ication and infiw~;ition tlisseniination as they are tnore i ~ i t ~ ~ , i ~ ~ t i \ j e (O;l,ogti;l, ~ I I I ~ KIIII~. 2002) . .I'licy C ~ I I I s t ~ ~ ~ i g t l i ~ ~ i i~cliitio~isliips ~ K ~ \ V C C I ~

cooperative SME p r t n e ~ - ~ "i'able I illustrates the Ijkeliliootl of irnprovinp the available marketing services ~ n c l tnateri;lls in the environnient;II arena.

'Process Integratccl n v i r o n t i ~ c n t ~ l 'l'cclinology' and 'Productio~i Integrated Environnient;~ 'fechnology' refer to grccri technologies to convert solid waste into r~wful raw matel-ials antl useful protlucts, respectively. I n Germany (Ozoguz and Krull, 2002). the income of workers associated with environtnental technologies is o n the order of LJS$ 37 billion, and these individuals arc mainly Sh4Es. These practices are also consistent with [lie tenets of sr~st;~inal~le tlcvelop~nent nnt i pel.niil energj; to be conserved. For cxample. in newsprint protluc~ion, tlicrc is clear energy saving associated with the use of waste paper. This is also the case for recycling of Serrous antl non-ferrous ~netals. Process energy savings are very high for recyclcd alu~niniuni. Whe:i aluminium cam are smelted in a revc~krat ing furnace, tlic cnergy requirement is ;~hout 8.72 rnillion R T l l . This is far below the 244 million i3TO necessary to produce ingot from primary ore (I'urner, 198 1). 'l'hc issue of recycla1)le antl non-recyclable plastics is not well resolved: Ilencc, separation of plxrics is targctd to a Se\v product types. Mechanical separation plants have so I'ar failed il l sepxating both plastics arid aluniinium atlequately. Howe\tr. an elegant ;illern:~tivc for scpalstinp solitl wastes is the so-called 'separ:~tion ;in(! con~posting pliint' (V;~ntlevivere anti Varstraete. 2001). This type of fi~ciiit\ wo~rltl consisl of a co~iglo~ncrntion of sopliistic;ited large plants that could handle hetween l00,OOO and 300,000 tonnes of solitl waste per yea!.. I t \vould include a battet-y of' physical separation units to recover s;lnd :~nrl gravel, iron, alun~inir~rn, cardboard and papcr. hard ancl soft plastics and hiorlegr;~tl;ible organics. Such facilities are already in use i n C;ern~any, the Netherlantls and I3clgiuni. where they have been shown to rcduce tlic quantity o f rccycl;il~lc or reuseable fractions of solitl ivaste that are landfillc(l.

liologici~l aerobic processes

acid leaching 01' himetal caris

1-111)l~cr protl~tctioit Iwoccsses

hottlc rr~;~nr~fiictrtrin:!g and

extrusion processes (mixed plastic and glass).

The establishment of these SMEs while improving the environment will also reduce ~~ l~c~np loyn ien t and incrcase the capital base of tlie south-east zone.

The governnier~t can operate procluctio~~ and process integrated enviro~irnent;~l tcchnotogies jointly., with priwte sectors (including SML) and the local co~nmunities to process tiwnicipal and industrial solit1 waste sustainahly. This approach will iikely support the cstahlishnient of niany SMEs employing processes such as those listed above. 'l'hesc changes can hc accomplished by employing pollution control framework tililt utilises nest Availability Tcclinology Not Entailing I~xcessive Costs (RATNEEC) (Pearce i~ntl 7'111-ncr. 1900) srrch as waste minimisation at point sources and recycling atid I-erlsc: of wzlste con~ponents. Provisiori I'or alter-nillives call also he considered based on the Best Practical E ~ ~ \ ~ i r o l i ~ l ~ e t ~ t i ~ l Option (HPEO) srrch as the use of a separation and composting plalil or ~n;lnuai selxwation, digestior~ of tlie biodegradable waste and co~nposting in landfill?. 'This approuch crcntes opportunities for energy or material recovery for I-esale. The entire opcri~tioti is most likely to pron~ote property v:~iucs. quality ol'air. watcr : r r d lbod t l i1~1g11 ;~nilcrol)ic lit~nir~s p~.~duct ion.

Acknowledgement

'T'l~is I)iIPCt. ispart or the proposed biotechliology I'ralnework for solid waste managenlent in the south-east zone of Nigeria. Ii was prepared for presentation during a Biotcchnology Workshop at tlic University of Nigeria. Nsukka. August 2004 at !lie instance of the National Hiotechnology I)evelopment Agency (NABDA), Abuja.