Briquetting of Prosopis
From invasive plant to efficient fuel
Biofuel is the most common energy resource in cooking. The fuel is extracted from e.g. logging, but also the invasive plant Prosopis is harvested for burning. However, the current burning of biofuels is associated with an unnecessarily high environmental impact and is also highly inefficient.
The idea of the project is to develop a small briquette press, which will enable the production and sale of energy efficient briquettes of locally harvested Prosopis to local residents.
Since there are several million tonnes of Prosopis, optimizing the energy conversion of Prosopis, will potentially enable the supply of energy efficient fuel to millions of people.
On an ongoing basis, the purpose will be to make the cultivation of Prosopis organized, in order to get the best yield. In this way, the plant goes from being an invasive species that needs to be eradicated, to being an effective source of biofuel.
Throughout the project, the briquette press has been tested for the purpose of briquetting other types of biowaste and has also been used with residual waste from the production of pineapple.
This is a PIVØ-project (Partnershipdriven innovation for emerging markets in East Africa”), supported by The European Regional Development Fund.
Get support and sparring from idea to successful business on emerging markets in Africa