| dc.description.abstract | On a global scale, approximately 2.4 billion people still rely on the traditional use of wood fuel for cooking, small enterprises use wood fuel for baking, tea processing and brick making (Go-, 2016) this is majorly among low income communities where wood fuel is cheaper compared to other sources of energy. This results into a continual loss of forest cover reducing carbon dioxide absorption eventually leading to global warming. Human excreta waste on the other hand pose a global challenge on sanitation and hygiene which is characterized with outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea dysentery and typhoid. Which is majorly as a result of improper disposal of these wastes.
This project seeks to address the problem of deforestation which is majorly due to the search of wood fuel by providing an alternative source of fuel for household use. Secondly it also seeks to reduce the occurrence/ prevalence of diseases by transforming human faecal matter into briquettes rather than disposing into the environment. The aspect of transforming faecal matter to briquettes is already in existence and many researches have been undertaken on the subject matter. However, the challenge with the existing models/ methods is that they are centralized which are attributed with a problem of transporting samples to processing centres, and the locals are not informed. Our project therefore seeks to fill that gap by developing a simplified technology of forming briquettes which can be applied at household levels. Thereby reducing transport costs and enabling people to make briquettes at lower costs.
To realise the main objective of the project, which is to transform human faecal matter to briquettes at household levels, we opted to use urine diversion dry toilets which provide faecal matter of low moisture content. Therefore, there was need to asses the current operation and maintence of UDDT toilets to identify challenges faced in using the toilets and recommend appropriate measures to curb the challenges. Secondly briquettes were formed by mixing faecal matter obtained from the UDDTs with binder, the mixture later compacted in a mould. Laboratory tests on briquettes and fresh faecal matter samples were conducted. The tests included moisture content for both the briquettes and fresh faecal matter samples, ash content and calorific value for briquettes.
The results obtained from the interviews conducted on current operation and maintenances of UDDT toilets indicated that most owners of the toilets didn’t have enough knowledge on how to use the wastes generated, recommendation to convert such wastes was therefore made. | en_US |
