EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR A GREEN PROJECT – WASTE TO ENERGY BY
HARNESS ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LTD
Background Issues
Nigeria with over 195 million people is experiencing huge waste management problems and inadequate power supply that can barely meet the electricity needs of its entire populace. In SubSahara Africa, the World Bank 2012 Urban Development Series publication stated that waste
generation is approximately 62 million tonnes a year with each person generating an average of 0.65kg/day. By 2025, the report projected that urban waste generation in the region will be 161.27 million tonnes annually. Going by this report and Nigeria’s population, the country
generates 43.2 million tonnes of waste annually and by 2025, with a population of 233.5 million (according to poplationpyramid.net figure), Nigeria will be generating an estimated 72.46 million tonnes of waste annually at a projected rate of 0.85kg of waste/capita/day.
Electricity plays a vital role in the socio-economic and technological development of any nation. The electricity demand in Nigeria far outpaces the supply. According to Nigeria: Power Africa Fact Sheet by USAID, Nigeria has the potential to generate 12,522MW of electric power from existing plants but on most days, it is only able to distribute 4,000MW which can never be enough for a country of over 195 million people. Electricity remains an illusion in some parts of Nigeria.
Solution
With a proven technology that combines the use of waste – municipal solid waste, medical waste, biomass, tires, hazardous wastes and industrial wastes as feedstock passed through ultrahigh temperatures can produce clean syngas that can be used to generate electricity. Here, the waste is utilized not only for electricity generation but in addition to other alternative end products such as hydrogen, diesel, ammonia, vitrified glass which can be used as construction aggregates.
Advantages of the technology
- Handles more types of feedstock.
- Complete waste destruction with high energy output.
- High uptime and low maintenance.
- Uses less land and water.
- Low capital and operating costs.
- Produces high-value products with no toxic byproducts.
Overall Benefits
- Cleaner environment with no greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.
- Better health for the citizen which will increase their life expectancy,
- Eradication of landfills that generate methane and other dangerous greenhouse gases,More homes and businesses enjoy electricity which will improve their standard of life.
- Boost the socio-economy and technological development in Nigeria.
- Direct and indirect employment.
Stakeholders
The major stakeholders are
The Federal Ministry of Environment – Permits
Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) –Waste owners.
Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) – Off takers.
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) – License & Permits.
Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) – Provision of Land.
Foreign partners who will deploy the technology.
Nigerians – end users in homes, schools, businesses, offices, etc.
Market
Landfills place long-term environmental burdens on our society. They also present relatively untapped, energy-rich carbon resources near large population centers where energy demand is greatest. This technology not only eliminates the need for new landfills but allows waste in the existing landfills to be cleanly converted into electricity and low-carbon fuels, simultaneously reducing landfill dependence, increasing landfill cleanup, and cleanly supporting energy independence.
Renewable energy production has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in the wind and solar sectors. Despite this growth of over 180% each year for the past five years, the Renewable Energy Master Plan (REMP) estimates that renewable electricity will account for 10% of Nigeria’s total energy consumption by 2025. Instead of wasting energy in the 43.2 million metric tons of municipal solid waste landfilled annually in Nigeria, this waste can be used to power 4.7 million homes.
Proposition
These systems can be sited in each geopolitical zone to address both the waste and electrical issues of the immediate locality. This can be scaled up to having a system in each state which will further mitigate the environmental and power problems. The estimated total installations will be
about 37MW with a time frame of 1 year for the design, fabrication, and installation of each system.