Aim

This project focuses on using invasive aquatic macrophytes (water hyacinth) and nutrient rich waste (manure, faecal sludge) in combination with immobilised microbial systems to facilitate the production of biogas, clean water and recovery of nutrients in developing countries.

This will be addressed by:

• evaluating new pre-treatments
• identifying mixed consortia of micro-organisms for the enzymatic degradation of water hyacinth
• developing optimum integration strategies for maximising biogas production

Our project has a focus on low-income countries (Uganda) and promotes knowledge transfer from mid-income (India) and high-income (UK) countries.

Objectives:

1.  Optimise the use of pre-treatment, co-digestion and reactor configuration to maximise bio-methane yields
2.  Investigate the integration of single and multi-stage anaerobic digestion for biomethane production
3.  Develop the use of carbon additives (hydrochar, biochar, charcoal) for improving conversion and product quality.
4.  Develop suitable approaches for upgrading biogas into high-quality methane to diversify its use (cooking, power generation, refrigeration, transportation, etc.)
5.  Understand the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of using water hyacinth for biogas production
6.  Demonstrate the innovation development beyond pilot scale in India and Uganda