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Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa

Several anthropogenic activities reduce the supply of freshwater to living organisms in all ecological systems, particularly the human population. Organic matter in derived wastewater can be converted into potential energy, such as biogas (methane), through microbial transformation during anaerobic...

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Autores principales: Ijoma, Grace N., Mutungwazi, Asheal, Mannie, Thulani, Nurmahomed, Weiz, Matambo, Tonderayi S., Hildebrandt, Diane
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9118499/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35600457
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09385
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author Ijoma, Grace N.
Mutungwazi, Asheal
Mannie, Thulani
Nurmahomed, Weiz
Matambo, Tonderayi S.
Hildebrandt, Diane
author_facet Ijoma, Grace N.
Mutungwazi, Asheal
Mannie, Thulani
Nurmahomed, Weiz
Matambo, Tonderayi S.
Hildebrandt, Diane
author_sort Ijoma, Grace N.
collection PubMed
description Several anthropogenic activities reduce the supply of freshwater to living organisms in all ecological systems, particularly the human population. Organic matter in derived wastewater can be converted into potential energy, such as biogas (methane), through microbial transformation during anaerobic digestion (AD). To address the current lack of data and values for wastewater generation in Sub-Saharan Africa, this review analyzes and estimates (at 50% and 90% conversion rates) the potential amount of wastewater-related sludge that can be generated from domestic freshwater withdrawals using the most recent update in 2017 from the World Bank repository and database on freshwater status in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could potentially produce the highest estimate of biogas in Sub-Saharan Africa from domestic wastewater sludge of approximately 90 billion m(3), which could be converted to 178 million MWh of electricity annually, based on this extrapolation at 50% conversion rates. Using same conversion rates estimates, at least nine other countries, including Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, and Congo Republic, could potentially produce biogas in the range of 1–20 billion m(3). These estimates show how much energy could be extracted from wastewater treatment plants in Sub-Saharan Africa. AD process to produce biogas and energy harvesting are essential supplementary operations for Sub-Saharan African wastewater treatment plants. This approach could potentially solve the problem of data scarcity because these values for Freshwater withdrawals are readily available in the database could be used for estimation and projections towards infrastructure development and energy production planning. The review also highlights the possibilities for energy generation from wastewater treatment facilities towards wastewater management, clean energy, water, and sanitation sustainability, demonstrating the interconnections and actualization of the various related UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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spelling pubmed-91184992022-05-20 Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa Ijoma, Grace N. Mutungwazi, Asheal Mannie, Thulani Nurmahomed, Weiz Matambo, Tonderayi S. Hildebrandt, Diane Heliyon Review Article Several anthropogenic activities reduce the supply of freshwater to living organisms in all ecological systems, particularly the human population. Organic matter in derived wastewater can be converted into potential energy, such as biogas (methane), through microbial transformation during anaerobic digestion (AD). To address the current lack of data and values for wastewater generation in Sub-Saharan Africa, this review analyzes and estimates (at 50% and 90% conversion rates) the potential amount of wastewater-related sludge that can be generated from domestic freshwater withdrawals using the most recent update in 2017 from the World Bank repository and database on freshwater status in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could potentially produce the highest estimate of biogas in Sub-Saharan Africa from domestic wastewater sludge of approximately 90 billion m(3), which could be converted to 178 million MWh of electricity annually, based on this extrapolation at 50% conversion rates. Using same conversion rates estimates, at least nine other countries, including Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, and Congo Republic, could potentially produce biogas in the range of 1–20 billion m(3). These estimates show how much energy could be extracted from wastewater treatment plants in Sub-Saharan Africa. AD process to produce biogas and energy harvesting are essential supplementary operations for Sub-Saharan African wastewater treatment plants. This approach could potentially solve the problem of data scarcity because these values for Freshwater withdrawals are readily available in the database could be used for estimation and projections towards infrastructure development and energy production planning. The review also highlights the possibilities for energy generation from wastewater treatment facilities towards wastewater management, clean energy, water, and sanitation sustainability, demonstrating the interconnections and actualization of the various related UN Sustainable Development Goals. Elsevier 2022-05-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9118499/ /pubmed/35600457 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09385 Text en © 2022 University of South Africa, Florida Campus. College of Science, Engineering and Technology, 28 Pioneer Ave, Florida Park https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review Article
Ijoma, Grace N.
Mutungwazi, Asheal
Mannie, Thulani
Nurmahomed, Weiz
Matambo, Tonderayi S.
Hildebrandt, Diane
Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa
title Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa
title_full Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa
title_short Addressing the water-energy nexus: A focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in Sub Saharan Africa
title_sort addressing the water-energy nexus: a focus on the barriers and potentials of harnessing wastewater treatment processes for biogas production in sub saharan africa
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9118499/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35600457
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09385
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