Advanced BioFuels USA

by Patrick Amunavi (farmers.co.ke) Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology alumni, and Innovator, Erick Gathirwa Kariuki, has developed a biofuel innovation by harnessing the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) into a bioethanol product that can be used as cooking fuel in households.

Erick Kariuki, who graduated in from JKUAT with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Biotechnology, developed an interest in renewable energy and biofuels while on a visit to the Lake Victoria region, when he was a student.

“I came face to face with the effect of the water hyacinth on the local environment in Lake Victoria region and I asked myself, what I could do to turn the water hyacinth menace into something useful?” Kariuki said during an interview last week, when he visited JKUAT and met the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Victoria Wambui Ngumi.

“I designed the cooking fuel innovation from water hyacinth weed as an undergraduate project. The results were so good. After consulting my supervisors, I decided to pursue the patent process through the JKUAT Directorate of Intellectual Property Management and University Liason (DIPUIL),” Erick stated.

The Sustainable Blue Economy conference held in Nairobi, 2018 provided an opportunity for Erick to participate and showcase his innovation idea to potential investors in the marine and water related areas.

“I was encouraged to participate and thereafter, I applied for Climate Change Launchpad competition, facilitated by the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre at Strathmore University.”

He participated in the 3 series of the competition and made it to the national finals where he emerged position three (3) in Kenya, earning a slot to represent Kenya in Scotland.

“I got sponsored for the Global competition in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2018 and made it to the finalists top 16. Consequently, the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre agreed to incubate my project, Aqua ethanol technologies,” Erick revealed.

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The innovator has a special message to students at JKUAT: “It is okay to think differently. Most graduates in Biochemistry dream to go to Kemri, or to be medical representative. To be odd is what helps you to shape your past. Think differently,” he advises his peers.

Asked about his plans for the long term, Erick confidently avers: “I see myself serving people in the area of renewable industry in whatever capacity; providing solutions to problems.”

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The bioethanol cooking fuel innovation which has been patented is poised to sustainably address the water hyacinth problem, while at the same time generating income from bioethanol as well as providing cheaper alternative source of clean energy for Kenyan households, thus reducing reliance on fossil fuels like paraffin commonly used for cooking by low income populations.  READ MORE

Technology to produce biogas from water hyacinth (The Hindu)