Advanced BioFuels USA

(Nigerian Tribune)  … YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that to stop the overdependence on petroleum products, the South-west is set to be the site of a project that is novel to Africa; processing of liquid fuel (biofuel) from waste plastic materials.

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In the last few days, the fear of fuel scarcity due to a threat of industrial action by fuel marketers has been hovering like a heavy cloud about to give way to rainstorm on the Nigerian horizon. And this scare continues to be a source of concern to almost everybody irrespective of professional affiliation as the average Nigerian is conscious of the unfriendly effect of fuel scarcity on daily living; long queue at fuel stations, hike in price of petroleum products, panic buying, infiltration of adulterated fuel at black markets as well as skyrocketing price of goods and services amidst other challenges.

Indeed, Nigeria has over the years had a checkered history in terms of fuel supply and prices; scarcity has been a perennial problem in the Nigerian society and the dependence on petroleum products is on an all time high. This over dependence and high demand has led to people especially in the developed societies, seeking for alternatives to the popular fossil fuel which used to be the black gold.

And in the history of Africa, there has not been any major move to produce biofuel from waste. But now, Nigeria is set to blaze the trail as the novel project to create  an alternative source to fossil fuel in order to reduce the pressure and high demand for petroleum products that sometimes lead to a shortfall of supply to demand, scarcity and hike in price will the preliminary operations in the South-western part of the country.

The project is the production of biofuel as an alternative to the common petroleum products. And in the next nine months, biofuel will be produced on a commercial scale in Ibadan or Lagos.

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The liquid fuel that will be produced in South-west Nigeria will be processed from plastic wastes that have been found to abound in Nigeria, simply put; liquid fuel will be processed from low grade plastic rich waste products.

The project is the result of collaboration between three organizations; WestAfricaENRG, the company saddled with the responsibility of managing waste in Oyo and Lagos states, Cranfield University in the United Kingdom and Syngas products. 

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At present, a research and scientific analysis of plastic waste is ongoing in Nigeria with a researcher from Cranfield University. 

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The fine sand from waste product according to Olawe (WestAfricaENRG Office Manager, Olaoluwa Olawe), can be used as a fertilizer or for construction purposes and is of great economic value. He added that methane gas comes out as smoke during waste processing and if it is trapped, it can be converted to electricity.

The waste to energy is however in two forms; waste to electricity and waste to fuel both of which will actually make life easier for Nigerians. However, the present project is about fuel and not the process of converting waste to electricity because it is not feasible at present in Nigeria based on cost and logistics.

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“Our own project is not about electricity, we are sorting plastics to produce biofuel. What we will do is to heat the plastic at very high temperature, then, we will refine the liquid products to make kerosene, diesel and petroleum that would be sold on a commercial scale. That is very feasible in Nigeria,” Callaghan (Chief Executive Officer of WestAfricaENRG, Paul O’Callaghan) stated.  READ MORE