Harnessing vast quantities of biowaste into reliable and efficient electricity production.
Imagine energy production where there are no cooling towers raking the sky, no forest of transmission towers, no vast turbines, no giant paddles revolving in mighty rivers.
The energy-demanding 4-th industrial revolution is imminent,and we cannot turn our backs on the fact that the major non-renewable energy sources that are currently implemented are dwindling.
This is why at FASA Pvt. we came up with an sustainable model to combat the challenge.Our idea’s main focus is on re-imagining rural Africa(in Africa alone-about 41,9% of the population has access to electricity) although the idea is applicable universally.
Fast forward:At FASA we realised that vast quantities of important biowaste are being wasted in subsaharan Africa, mainly cow dung and sewage sludge among others! So we crafted a solution to build fuel cell plants to fully utilise the renewable fuels to wring out electricity from the biowaste.
65% of cow dung alone comprises of methane, and over 24 hours ,1kg of cow dung yields approx 0.24 cubic decimeters of methane! By taking advantage of the plush biowaste resources in all communal areas we can implement the idea as follows:
Simple fuel reactants (biogas and atomspheric oxygen) are needed.The biogas undergoes reforming onsite to produce hydrogen gas which is more efficient in the electrochemical reactions as hydrogen requires lower operating temperatures than methane alone.Platinum is needed as the catalyst;in Africa, particularly my country Zimbabwe, platinum is also a major mineral of which the metal is of paramount importance to the plant.We intent to make partnerships /use the shared economy business model with the platinum processing industry,ensuring reliable supply.The platinum is carefully used as a catalyst at the anode to break hydrogen into ions necessary for electrical current production.A readily available electrolyte like phosphoric /sulfuric acid will suffice.
Our niche is the expertise in fully utilising the biowaste , a fuel that can be replenished.Therefore,we will setup large biodigesters which are constantly fed with biowaste in the vicinity of power generation . Constant supply of the fuel implies constant power production.With this advantage we can considerably reduce power production costs once the plant is set up.
The plant is capable of delivering maximum efficiency at lower power levels as opposed to internal combustion engines currently used. One cell is capable of yielding 0.6 to 0.9 volts at efficiency as high as 60%. As a result we will stack the cells in series to amplify the power output.Direct current (DC ) and AC will become an integral part of the system-as a result our plant has universal uses.The heat produced as a result of electrochemical reactions can be used in Combined Heat Power (CHP) application such as local heating.
At FASA we believe more and more African households and industries will move to this green energy revolution.At the same time will prioritize working together with policy makers who will make this electricity transition process more easy.
Hydrogen will be available when fossil fuels are exhausted,and it is non-toxic and can be obtained in vast quantities!This is why our business plan is aimed at utilising the green fuel to produces reliable electricity to everyone.The hydrogen economy is the future.
As a startup we have plans to further research into more cheaper catalyst other than platinum such as utilising nanotechnology to make the whole process more economic.This technology can readily be connected to the national grid at a large scale.
This technology can also be implemented in urban areas and be used to supplement to the national grid.
Lets go green.Green electricity!
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