Hello All,

If you want to hear more from our project and ask us questions, please join us for the upcoming webinar (number 6) on “productive sanitation”.

We will present on "Large scale production and commercialization of Fortifer - a fertilizer manufactured from faecal sludge - in Ghana", By Olufunke Cofie and Josiane Nikiema(IWMI-Ghana), IWMI (International Water Management Institute, West Africa Office, Accra, Ghana)

The webinar will take place on Tuesday 25 February 2014, 16:30 - 17:15
(CET - Central European Time; time converter to find your local time: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)

More details of the webinar, and on the other presenters, are available here on the forum: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/139-in...5-february-2014#7239

There is no need to download any software to attend (simply go to this website: seint.adobeconnect.com/seiwebinar/). However, you must obtain the password to enter the room. To obtain the password, please e-mail Elisabeth von Muench: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We look forward to seeing you on 25 February!
Funke & Josiane.

Dear all,

For those of you who have an interest in this work that we are doing in Ghana, there are now two documents about our project available online which give you more details on what I have posted so far.

These are:

• our final report from Phase 1 and
• a detailed project brief for the current Phase 2 (the project brief describes our planned activities, milestones and outcomes).

You find them both here in the SuSanA library: susana.org/lang-en/library/library?view=...eitem&type=2&id=1781

These are the 5 outcomes that we are working towards now:

• Outcome 1: PPP formed with demonstrated co-funding at 50% of total lifecycle costs
• Outcome 2: By end of the project, the project has secured off-take contracts for 50% of the production of certified Fortifer
• Outcome 3: Demonstrate that the implementation of the Fortifer plant results in high increase in volumes of treated sludge in the city while costs of sludge management are reduced significantly compared to conventional scenario
• Outcome 4: Proven and replicable business and technology solution established
• Outcome 5: Project is effectively managed to deliver on agreed outcomes by end of year 2 (Management and Coordination)

If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If you are based in Ghana, feel free to visit us when in Accra.

Regards,
Funke

From Waste to Food, a GCE Phase II project started in Ghana in 2013 following the development of fortified excreta Pellets in the country (GCE Phase I result). The project is funded jointly by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), UK Department for International Development (DFID) and Grand Challenges Canada (GCC).

Our previous studies resulted in different faecal sludge (FS)-based fertilizer formulations (composted, enriched or pelletized) which we collectively describe as Fortifer.

Title of grant:
Scaling out the Recovery of Nutrients and Organic Matter from Faecal Sludge for Food Production in Ghana: From Waste to Food (WaFo)

Name of lead organization: IWMI (International Water Management Institute)
Primary contact at lead organization: Josiane Nikiema (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Olufunke Cofie (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Grantee location: Accra, Ghana

Developing country where the research is being or will be tested: Ghana

Goal(s):
The overall goal of WaFo project is to commercialize the Fortifier technology for agriculture in a manner that improves the sustainability of the sanitation value chain by generating a positive revenue stream, which measurably improves fecal sludge management in the city.

Short description of the project:
To achieve the goal, we will construct a plant that can produce up to 1,000 tons of Fortifer per year in a selected Ghanaian city. The project will establish appropriate public-private partnership and detailed business plan for Fortifer. It will secure the necessary certification from the government and come up with a marketing plan for Fortifer in Ghana.

Objectives: embedded above in the description

Start and end date: April 2013 – March 2015

Grant type: GCE Round 6 Phase 2 and UK Department for International Development (DFID) and Grand Challenges Canada (GCC).

Grant size: $1,100,000
The BMGF part of the grant is USD 300,000 (www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quic...s/2013/03/OPP1083131)

Research or implementation partners:

• IWMI
• Training Research and Networking for Development (TREND Group) responsible for PPP facilitation and partner negotiations
• A Municipal Assembly which through its Waste Management Department, will be responsible for FS Management and institutionalization of FS recycling
• The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) of Ghana for promotion of Fortifer use through extension services and training of farmers in Fortifer application,
• Fortifer Production Company (ProCom) to be determined, responsible for FS collection, treatment and Fortifer production.

Project website where results will be uploaded in the future:
www.iwmi.cgiar.org/research/projects/sho...cts/?C=072-06-01-GAT

Current state of affairs:
We have completed preliminary studies on the selection of focus city and appropriate business partner and public -private partnership. Activities on marketing, product certification and process optimization are on-going. Results will be shared as available.

If you have any questions, please ask them here.

Dear Dorothee,

We are working on the market potential and will surely share the results on this platform when we are through.


Kind Regards,

Funke

Dear Funke

Aside the LaDePe project, your work sounds also related to the activities carried out under the FaME project (see here: www.sandec.ch/forschung/sandec/gruppen/E...ts_ewm/fame/index_EN): "market demand and calorific value studies have been conducted in Ghana, Uganda, and Senegal, reuse-based financial-flow models are being developed".
Do you have some preliminary result of the economical evaluation of your processes and can you say something about the market potential?
It may be interesting to compare different sludge treatment and end-use processes in terms of their financial viability.

Best regards
Dorothee

Dear Ruth,

Thanks for your comments. Yes our work is related to yours and we have shared ideas with Chris Buckley previously. The machinery involved in our case is less sophisticated than yours. Moreover, our raw material is faecal sludge from septic tanks, so much more ‘liquid’ than pit latrine sludge. You can find a paper and presentation on the FSM2 page on this website. For the business model aspect, we are now testing that component in the new phase which started 2 months ago. So we do not have any information on that yet but we would surely share emerging results on this platform as we progress.
Cheers. Funke

Dear Funke and Josiane,

Ruth Cottingham has sent comments and questions regarding your project. She wrote:

“The Pollution Research Group at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is currently working on another Gates-funded project to carry out an economic evaluation of another pelletising process (LaDePa) for faecal sludge. A spreadsheet-based model is being developed to compare the whole life cycle cost of pelletisation with incineration as a disposal/reuse route.
Your work sounds very related to this and I would be really interested to know more. Are you able to share any reports resulting from it with us? We are particularly interested in understanding the relevant business models and economic inputs that apply to contexts outside of South Africa, in order to build the model with a structure that can be applied in multiple contexts.”

It is great that your projects are similar. Sharing findings and experiences from both projects would indeed be very useful.

Best regards,

Nelson

Olufunke Cofie and Josiane Nikiema of International Water Management Institute (IWMI) are developing pellets from human excreta for use in agriculture. Outlined below are details of their project.

Project title: Developing fortified excreta pellets for use in agriculture
Short description of the project:
Excreta are rich source of essential plant nutrients and organic matter that can be recycled as fertilizer-cum-soil conditioner – an effect not shared by chemical fertilizers and of dare need in tropical soils. While the principles that underlie the use of excreta in agriculture and associated benefits are known, the wide use of excreta is still constrained by factors such as the cost of transportation and handling as well as negative perception of communities with regards to using FS in agriculture. To address both challenges, this project hypothesized that producing excreta pellets could be the solution. The project explored ways to produce safe, efficient and cost effective fertilizer pellets from FS. The project focused on developing a marketable product from this waste, and explored options for pelletization of fecal sludge composts to increase; marketability, general acceptability, ease of handling and on-farm distribution, and to improve fertilizer use efficiency and affordability. The project involved a multi-disciplinary team of economists, environmental scientists, agronomists and engineers. The collective name for our various excreta based fertilizer formulations is referred to as Fortifer.

Objective: The main goal of the project is to convert excreta into safe and efficient fertilizer pellets that could enhance agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa and make fecal sludge reuse attractive and profitable for private entrepreneurs.

Implementation process (attached)



Results:
The fecal sludge was initially dried, to remove excess water and sanitized through gamma irradiation (I-DFS), composting (C-DFS) and co-composting with sawdust (C-SDFS). For C-DFS, enrichment was performed through addition of nitrogenous fertilizer, to raise the level of nitrogen to 3% (EC-DFS). Each of these materials was then individually used for the production of cylindrical pellets. A binding material consisting of clay or cassava starch, pregelatinized or irradiated, at concentrations between 0 and 10 % in weight was added prior to pelletization. Equipment used in pelletization process was constructed in Ghana.

This study revealed that optimal moisture level, needed in the pelletizer’s feed, is highly dependent on material type with the lowest water amounts required for EC-DFS and I-DFS and the highest ones for C-SDFS. It is also affected by binder type and concentration, clay and lower concentrations requiring more water than irradiated starch and higher concentrations, respectively. The pellet’s length distribution was strongly affected by the starch pretreatment method as well as the type of pelletized material. Stability of pellets was affected by type of pelletized material, binding material’s concentration and moisture content. Producing dried pellets ensure reduction in the volume of fertilizer required in the field (50-80 % of the initial volume).


Video of her presentation at the FSM2-Conference in Durban, South Africa:



Conference presentation slides:
www.susana.org/images/documents/07-cap-d...kiema-iwmi-ghana.pdf

Conference paper:
www.susana.org/_resources/documents/default/2-1624-nikiema.pdf

Documents in SuSanA library:
www.susana.org/lang-en/library/library?v...eitem&type=2&id=1781

Developing country where the research has been tested: Ghana
Start and end date: May 2011 to April 2013
Grant type: GCE Round 6
Funding for this research currently ongoing: No

Research or implementation partners:
• Tema Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana
• Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Accra, Ghana
• Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI), Accra, Ghana
• Valley View University, Accra, Ghana
• University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Best regards,

Nelson