Advances in converting urine into clean energy
• Lumos Laboratories creates improved model of urine diverting toilet for separating, harvesting waste from point of use • As human urine could replace chemical fertilisers that have devastating impact on climate change but would require new toilets
• Partners Israeli Embassy, Office of the Vice President to massively produce UDTS, improve efficiency of invention reactor
SCIENTISTS have advanced in the use of human urine to generate electricity and produce chemical fertiliser. A Nigerian scientist and President/ Director of Research at Lumos Laboratories Nigeria Limited, Ejikeme Patrick Nwosu, who had fabricated equipment that converts urine into flammable gases, biomethane and hydrogen- rich gases, with 100 per cent indigenous technological inputs, told The Guardian on Tuesday that the company had updated its urine- energy technology.
Nwosu, a graduate of Pure and Industrial Chemistry from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka ( NAU), Anambra State with Masters of Science degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Ibadan ( UI), Oyo State, said: “We have made some tremendous progress in perfecting the use of gases produced from urine to generate electricity by blending our hydrogenammonia rich gases with either biomethane or liquefied petroleum gas ( LPG) in controlled proportion. This becomes pertinent because most gas electricity generator on the shelves are not designed to run only on hydrogen.”
He said Hydeploy Consortium in the United Kingdom ( U. K.) on a budget averaging £ 7million is carrying out a replica of such project. Nwosu said while Hydeploy targets use of hydrogen- blended gases for heating purposes, Lumos Laboratories Nigeria Limited, is more interested in using hydrogen- ammonia blended gas for generation of electricity.
Nwosu’s novel innovation was awarded an Invention Patent Right of Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2014 while the American Chemical Society published the abstract in 2005.
Nwosu was last year awarded two Invention patent rights of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for his two latest innovations. This has brought the number of patents on his name to five.
The first patent is on development of Ezeugo Flask while the other is on creation of Fire Retardant Paint using byproduct from Lumos Laboratories’ urine- to- energy processing.
The chemist further explained: “Our results have been impressive and proves to be a clever way out of the use of carbon- rich gases as primary energy resource, gradually and consistently, we can increase the amount of hydrogen in the gases we use and over the time phase out the use of polluting carbon- rich gases.
“One of the project sites we are working on currently is
Queen Elizabeth School, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. The target is to use urine from the boarding students to generate clean electricity for use in the hostel. We have done initial test running of the plant with success. We are on enlightenment and technical training of some students, teachers and staffs to man the plant before full commissioning and handover to ensure proper maintenance and sustainability.
“We don’t want a condition where a project of this nature is delivered to a host community that does not have the required capacity and technical knowledge to run and maintain the plant. This has been one of the reasons most projects delivered in Nigeria failed. Because of the passion we have in seeing that our ideas and brainchild are being replicated and in use in various parts of the world, we will only be glad to see all the plants we construct to stand the test of time. This project was awarded by the National Center for Hydropower Research and Development ( Energy Commission of Nigeria).”
Nwosu said one of the major components needed for this project is urine- diverting toilet ( UDT), which is used for separating and harvesting urine from point of use. He said, unfortu
nately, no company manufactures that in the country at the moment despite the abundance of raw materials. “It has not been rosy because the cost of bringing those items into the country is high, whereas we can actually produce them locally,” he said.
Nwosu, however, said he had been able to create an improved model of the UDT with the help of I- FAIR programme. I- FAIR is the Innovation Fellowship for Aspiring Inventors and Researchers, an initiative for raising a generation of innovators, inventors and researchers in Nigeria, an initiative of the Israeli Embassy in Nigeria and the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria. “Soon, we hope to have urine diverting toilets massively produced in Nigeria,” he said.
The chemist said his team of researchers at Lumos Laboratories was working towards improving the efficiency of their Urine- Energy reactor ( Patrium Flask Reactor) and the urine- energy process as well as delving into converting urine into more useful products.
Nwosu said the laboratory was also working on generation of clean gases from biological means via bioremediation, using algae and other microorganisms. “Our beam had been on urine over the years because it is most abundant renewable waste on earth with huge potential,” he said.
Meanwhile, according to a new study, reported in Daily Mail UK, human urine could be the answer to replacing chemical fertiliser in agriculture and private gardens, as it is safer for the environment.
An engineer, Fabien Esculier, who runs the OCAPI research programme in France, said: “Plants need nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and these are ingested
through the food we eat, excreting them, mostly through urine.”
Esculier explained: “This presents an opportunity, but gathering enough urine to meet the demand of industrial agriculture would require changes to facilities and processes - including new urine funnelling toilets.”
Chemical fertilisers use synthetic nitrogen, in use for around a century, and have helped drive up yields and boost agricultural production to feed the population.
When used in large quantities, they make their way into river systems and other waterways, causing choking blooms of algae that can kill fish and other aquatic life.
To replace chemical fertilisers, the researchers said one would need many times the weight in treated urine, but as synthetic nitrogen is a significant source of greenhouse gases, creating systems to gather urine would be a ‘ long- term resilient model’ for agriculture.
According to the United Nations ( UN), emissions from agricultural ammonia can combine with vehicle fumes to create dangerous air pollution, and they also create emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, contributing to climate change.
Julia Cavicchi, of the US Rich Earth Institute, said: “Modern- day sanitation practices represent one of the primary sources of nutrient pollution.” She said that urine is responsible for around 80 per cent of the nitrogen found in wastewater and more than half of the phosphorus.
To replace chemical fertiliser, one would need many times the weight in treated urine, Cavicchi explained, making it so far unworkable as a solution.