Green energy from water hyacinth launched

ALBERTINA Mwanakampwe prepares a meal for her family on a biogas stove at her home in Dambwa Site and Service in Livingstone.

By DOREEN NAWA

NOTHING clicked in the mind of Albertina Mwanakampwe, 37, that one day the walls of the Livingstone sewage ponds would expand due to rapid population growth.
Living just over 500 metres away from the sewage ponds in Dambwa Site and Service was normal for Ms Mwanakampwe until five years ago when she noticed that the sewage ponds were expanding in size.
“It was not by choice that we found ourselves here. We had nowhere to settle and the only option was here, where there is less or no demand at all for land. We came here some time back and we had no problem until five years ago when we noticed that the ponds were becoming bigger,” she said.
But now the story is different following the establishment of a biogas project. Ms Mwanakampwe does not need to worry about expansion of sewage ponds as they are being controlled through the harvest of water weeds for biogas production.
But more beneficial is that she does not need to worry about charcoal or firewood to cook for her husband and five children. All thanks to the Living Falls BioPower project.
Ms Mwanakampwe can now have a pleasant sleep following the commencement of biogas production from the ponds.
“We can now stay here safely knowing that something is being done to control the [expansion of]ponds following the initiation of the biogas project. The project is a relief not only in terms of the sewage bother, but because we don’t need to buy charcoal. I am now using biogas energy for cooking, which is clean and environmentally friendly,” Ms Mwanakampwe said.

Living Falls BioPower project managing Director Chisco Simweena, Energy Regulation Board (ERB) head of human resources Juliet Bungoni, ERB executive director Langiwe Lungu, acting director of finance and administration  Buumba Simweemba and ERB Southern regional manager Allen Polito during the tour of the BioPower project in Livingstone.

The project concept is to turn the weeds growing in the wastewater ponds of Livingstone into biogas energy and fertilizer, thereby improving the water treatment capacity of the ponds. In a way this also protects the Zambezi River and mighty Victoria Falls from sewage pollution . The water weed is called water hyacinth.
Living Falls BioPower, an energy firm, has partnered with Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP) and Southern Water and Sewerage Company (SWASCO) in an 180,000 Euros worth project to set up a bio-gas power plant in Livingstone. The plant will produce fertilizer and biogas (for cooking) using water hyacinth and human excreta. 
The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) says the Living Falls BioPower project is a commendable entry point for renewable energy in Zambia.
“In order to redeem the diminishing trees due to massive charcoal production, renewable energy projects are the answer. This is a perfect and amazing project that uses an unwanted weed to produce gas that can be used for cooking, thereby replacing charcoal and other sources of energy,” ERB executive director Langiwe Lungu said during the tour of the project recently.
Ms Lungu has since called on the Livingstone community, especially hotels to support the project and ensure that they use biogas generated from the project.
“While most of the hotels currently use electricity [mainly from hydropower]and propane gas for cooking, a substantial part of the cooking and grilling is done on charcoal; biogas can be their alternative  [energy]during power cuts.
“If the country is to address deforestation, projects like the Living Falls BioPower ought to be supported,” Ms Lungu said.
The use of wood fuel in charcoal and firewood form in Zambia is the major contributing factor to rapid deforestation, making the country one of the six biggest global emitters of greenhouse gases.
Explaining the genesis of the project, Living Falls BioPower project managing director Chisco Simweena said the biogas venture was implemented in February last year,  and was specifically designed for biogas production based on a modern waste management system.
“Our target is to support between 30 and 50 households by mid-year under the pilot project, after which we will decide to connect more households and entities to the project. The contract with SWASCO was for seven years, and thereafter, the water utility firm would decide whether to renew the contract or not,” Mr Simweena said.

PROJECT managing Director Chisco Simweena (left) with his workmate Gilbert Mweempe harvesting water hyacinth from sewage ponds.

Situated in Livingstone’s Dambwa Site and Service, the project, which uses water hyacinth from SWASCO sewer ponds as raw materials for producing bio-as energy, is targeting to reach about 50 households before the end of this year.
Currently, the project has only 12 gas customers since December last year when it started producing bio-as.
The project is the first of its kind in Zambia in terms of producing biogas from sewage water weeds and supplying people with biogas as cooking energy. The gas is distributed through a gas pipe network and users pay for energy through pre-paid meters.
Water hyacinth biogas projects have been implemented in a number of countries, including Sudan, India, and Niger, and now in Zambia. The process of producing biogas is labour-intensive. It starts with the removal of water weeds from its sewage environment; then follows transportation and disposing of unwanted material. The weed is allowed to dry and compress, and later put in digesters after mixing the dried weed with cow dung. Then fermentation takes 20-40 days, after  which biogas will start filtering through pipes connected to digesters into the main biogas receivers.
The idea is to harvest the weeds from one pond and put them in a biogas reactor for anaerobic (without oxygen) digestion. The remains from this process can be used as affordable organic fertilizer for small-scale farmers.
“All the six ponds are heavily infested with water weeds. While these weeds fulfil at least a partial water purification function, they grow vigorously in nutritious water, providing a very fertile habitat for mosquitos and crocodiles. Dead plants contribute to a rapid sedimentation of the ponds which are already by now at the limit of their capacity.
“And because of this, the overflow into the Zambezi River, just upstream of the world heritage site Victoria Falls, is not in conformity with health and environmental standards, and threatens to spread the hyacinth pest into the Zambezi River,” Mr Simweena said.
Excessive water hyacinth growth is not only a problem at the sewage ponds in Livingstone, it is also common in wastewater ponds in Monze and Mazabuka in Southern Province, and Ndola on the Copperbelt.
Water hyacinth has been known to reduce water intake of hydropower plants such as Kafue Gorge and Kariba Power Station 
Despite being an unwanted plant in water bodies, water hyacinth is recommended for biogas production because the product is relatively cheaper and environmentally friendly compared to other energy sources.
Zambia has the capacity to up its biogas production using water hyacinth, specific energy-generating crops, agriculture industry wastes and food wastes in general.
With the pilot project being launched in Livingstone, this may just be the beginning of biogas production in Zambia.