How waste in Aba, Abia State of Nigeria can create steady power supply, boost revenue and create more job opportunities in it alone.

Waste management has been a great challenge in Nigeria, the Western African most populous nation; waste management is over a trillion dollar business global. It's benefits cannot be over emphasized - Waste management can be the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. Waste management can also be a form of energy recovery. Innovation involve in waste management produces electricity directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Landfills are one of the biggest sources of man-made methane emissions, ... 

In thermal waste management technologies, nearly all of the carbon content in the waste is emitted as carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere (when including final combustion of the products from pyrolysis and gasification; except when producing bio-char for fertilizer). Municipal solid waste (MSW) contain approximately the same mass fraction of carbon as CO2 itself (27%), so treatment of 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of MSW produce approximately 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of CO2.

In the event that the waste was landfilled, 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of MSW would produce approximately 62 cubic metres (2,200 cu ft) methane via the anaerobic decomposition of the biodegradable part of the waste. This amount of methane has more than twice the global warming potential than the 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of CO2, which would have been produced by combustion. In some countries, large amounts of landfill gas are collected, but still the global warming potential of the landfill gas emitted to atmosphere in e.g. the US in 1999 was approximately 32 % higher than the amount of CO2 that would have been emitted by combustion.

In Aba, Abia State of Nigeria; there is wide gap of landfill gas emitted in the atmosphere when compared to US as a state in Nigeria. The percentage 152% higher than the amount of CO2 that is emitted through combustion. Organic waste in Aba can be converted to produce electricity through fermentation and anaerobic reaction; the slurry or by-product from anaerobic process will be used to grow algae that could produce crude for different products. The algae biomass in turn is not a waste, it can be channeled to reproduce algae or used for the production of electricity through the same anaerobic process.

In addition, nearly all biodegradable waste is biomass. That is, it has biological origin. This material has been formed by plants using atmospheric CO₂ typically within the last growing season. If these plants are regrown the CO₂ emitted from their combustion will be taken out from the atmosphere once more.

Such considerations are the main reason why several countries administrate waste management of the biomass  as renewable energy. The rest — mainly plastics and other oil and gas derived products—is generally treated as non-renewable.

Pyrolysis As A Major Concept That Can Solve The Challenges of Waste Management In Aba, Abia State.

From what I have seen, pyrolysis remains one of the best process to tackle the endemic landfill waste in Aba Abia State. There a lot of economic opportunities that could be derived from this process. This involve the thermo-chemical decomposition of organic material at high temperatures without the participation of oxygen. It is also the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible.

Pyrolysis is a case of thermolysis, and is most commonly used for organic materials, being, therefore, one of the processes involved in charring. The pyrolysis of wood, which starts at 200–300 °C (390–570 °F), occurs for example in fires where solid fuels are burning or when vegetation comes into contact with lava in volcanic eruptions. In general, pyrolysis of organic substances produces gas and liquid products and leaves a solid residue richer in carbon content, char. Extreme pyrolysis, which leaves mostly carbon as the residue, is called carbonation.

Relating this to issue of landfill waste in Abia State of Nigeria, the process of pyrolytic conversion of the organic  into black oil and char that can be used for fertilizers and other benefits. An example is the landfill in Ariaria main market of Aba. We have a complex biomass as a landfill waste situation; a situation where we have plastics, papers, wood, polythene, etc as waste. This is a complex waste situation here. However, we can sum all these waste together without separating and convert them to power generation and other economic benefits for Abia State.

The three basic components derived from using pyrolysis to manage waste are:

Gases

Gases like hydrogen and methane are the easiest gases generate from the conversion of waste. Hydrogen gas is very important to our existence. Hydrogen gas could be used as a medium to produce other chemicals in hydrocarbon industries. When this hydrogen gas is produced in excess quantity, it can be exported since it is a high commodity. In addition, the methane gas could be used to produce electricity, cooking and used for heating,

Bio-oil

Bio-oil is a major and important by-product you will derive from this process. Bio-oil is also known as light crude (Through this means, Abia State stands the opportunity of producing crude oil without any well). This bio-oil could be refined to produce fuel, kerosene, diesel and jet fuel. Also a refined Bio-oil are very useful for pharmaceutical purposes.

Char

Bio - Char

Also known as the black carbon residue. This is usually in powdery form; the benefit of this ranges from fertilizers - the char from the pyrolitic process is used as a form of fertilizer or to manufacture fertilizer. Bio-char improves the soil texture and ecology, increasing its ability to retain fertilizers and release them slowly. It naturally contains many of the micro-nutrients needed by plants, such as selenium. It is also safer than other "natural" fertilizers such as manure or sewage, since it has been disinfected at high temperature. And, since it releases its nutrients at a slow rate, it greatly reduces the risk of water table contamination.

Biochar is also being considered for carbon sequestration, with the aim of mitigation of global warming. When its volatile and gaseous products are combusted or captured, the biochar process emits primarily water vapour The solid, carbon-containing char produced can be sequestered in the ground, where it will remain indefinitely.

It is a major component for asphalt used for the construction of roads, etc.

To be continued ....