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Producing
fertilizer, energy off garbage
The
method that the National Engineering Research and Development Centre
(NERD) has come up with consists of a series of "Anaerobe digestors"
or pits that decays and ferments garbage in several stages to produce
methane and fertilizer. They can be
installed in homes and factories and use garbage collected from
the neighbourhood or markets. NERD even buys excess fertiliser made
in this manner. Each of the
16 digestors in the prototype built by NERD, which two years ago
won an award in Geneva for novelty in recycling garbage, specially
wet garbage, has a capacity of 10 tonnes of garbage. Vegetable residue
is dumped into the digestors and kept for a week or so to ferment. Fertliser is
produced at the end of the process while biogas (methane) is generated
while the garbage rots in the digestors. The digesters
can produce five tonnes of organic fertilizer a day when in full
operation, which, at Rs. 7.50 a kilo (the same as nitrogen-rich
fertilisers sold in the market) has the potential to generate an
annual income of over Rs. 1.3 million. While fertilizer would be
the main source of income for those using this technique they also
can make some extra money by selling the gas that is produced. The
latter can earn about 1/7th of the income from fertilizer sales. The biogas
produced at NERD can be used to run four large-scale ovens, each
with a capacity to bake 300 loaves of bread a day. Biogas also generates
10 - 20 kilowatts of power and can be used for peripheral lighting
or cooking. Local government
authorities are increasingly becoming interested in the technique
and have approached the NERD Centre for help. Last week, a delegation
from the Kekirawa Pradeshiya Sabha, led by its chairman, R H Asoka
Gunasiri, held talks with scientists at NERD. Ranjan Rodrigo,
NERD Centre chairman, told the Kekirawa PS delegation that garbage
dumps are a health hazard and contaminate the underground water
table. The prototype digestors were built at a cost of Rs. 34 million
at Muthurajawela and are almost ready for production. The cost break-even
point is four years. Thereafter, there will be only operational
cost and everything else produced would be profits. Vegetable residue
for these digesters are to be collected from Wattala, Kandana, Ja-Ela,
Negombo and Gampaha. NERD has for
long been in the forefront of efforts to find cheap sources of renewable
energy, suitable for Sri Lanka, as well as garbage recycling. It
has gained attention through the work of Dr. A.N.S. Kulasinghe,
the scientist who once headed the NERD Centre and was also involved
in various experiments in the field of renewable energy, water,
wood gasification, combustion of paddy husk and saw dust to produce
gas. Having set
up several pilot projects in various locations and now mastered
the process, NERD is ready to afford advice to install biogas digesting
systems. The income generated by using the NERD system can offset
the cost of disposing of garbage. Athula Jayamanne, Senior Research Project Engineer, Bio Gas, NERD Centre, said that they have come up with new ways of generating biogas and fertilizer by using straw. These systems cost around Rs. 29,000 and could be used by farmers who would then not only have a continuous supply of rich fertilizer but energy for cooking and moderate lighting as well. The Centre is getting inquiries from various local government bodies and has constructed two digesters with a capacity of 30 tonnes for the Anuradhapura PS to gauge its feasibility. The Centre has also built two 20-tonne capacity digesters for the Kegalle PS, which are already in production making fertilizer. Dharshana
Fernando excels in Canada One of the
main contributors to the financial turnaround of Asiri Hospital,
Fernando after migrating to Canada, began his career as a 'Sales
Leader' at Sears Canada, a multinational company. Within a short
period his performance was above average and in recognition of his
contributions to Sears he was honoured with the 'Gold Award'. This was in
addition to the other numerous awards he has received. In September
2002 in recognising his superior sales and marketing capabilities,
he was offered a Business Development position by a major financial
organisation in Canada. During his short stay in Canada, Fernando
has done Sri Lanka proud in the professional field. Due to his contributions
to the Canadian Institute of Marketing as an active member, he was
appointed a Board Director of the Institute for the year 2001-2002
and also for 2002-2003. Fernando was an outstanding sportsman who represented Sri Lanka in Badminton and has taken up to professional coaching in Canada. He is a Canadian qualified Badminton coach and at present coaching at the Royal Canada Yatch Club and at High School in Toronto during his leisure hours. New
concept cuts construction costs The system,
known as pre-engineered steel building, is one of the modern and
fastest construction methods now in use to build any industrial
unit at a minimum cost. "This
system reduces the construction cost of major industrial sites compared
with the present conventional construction methods," Waymbco
Chairman/ Managing Director Ajantha Ambawatte told The Sunday Times
FT recently. The system
is suitable for industrial projects such as warehouses, stores and
factories, which could be built in a more cost-effective manner
and faster than other conventional systems. The company
has set up a factory at Sedawatta to manufacture steel pillars and
hopes to venture into export markets in future. Robert Tan
Jin Ai, Consultant to Waymbco, said that the new concept cuts construction
costs by 30 percent.This system is very popular in most of the newly
industrialized countries such as Malaysia and China, as well as
in Middle Eastern countries. Ambawatte said that the new system
uses steel pillars and high strength bolts that make it easy to
dismantle such building, unlike concrete buildings. The system
is cost-effective owing to the use of software designed to optimise
material usage and reduce the weight by 30 percent compared to other
building construction concepts, he said. "This system has a
superior strength-over-weight ratio and is more efficient with less
material used," he said. Ambawatte said the company is making simple steel portal frames, designed for easy and fast installation, which can be dismantled and relocated to a different site of the same dimension and capacity. (HS) Course
on industrial raw materials The purpose
of the course is to give participants an insight into Sri Lanka's
valuable mineral resources and highlight the potential of value
addition and encourage them to conduct research in this regard. It will be conducted by experts in the fields of chemistry, geology and mineral processing industry. |
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