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