Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

The University of Technology (UTech) is working to cut Jamaica's oil bill and dependence on the commodity by exploring alternative energy sources.

Through its Faculty of Engineering and Computing, which has conducted research in several areas related to energy, UTech is hoping that its foray into the realms of renewable energy will help.

One of those projects is a bio-digester located on the Silverdene Broiler Farms in Linstead, St Catherine. The project has been in existence for four years and is being facilitated by the Pennsylvania State University in the United States of America.

Waste for energy

The project, which is currently in its commissioning phase, uses waste from the surrounding farms to produce energy which, according to Dr Paul Campbell, who heads the research team, is most efficient.

He tells The Sunday Gleaner of the importance of the project and how this type of technology can help Jamaicans.

"Biodigestion is a process by which microbes convert solid carbonaceous materials into gaseous materials in an oxygen-deficient environment," Campbell explains. "However, when humans respire, we need oxygen to convert food sugars and carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and water. In a bio-digester, because the microbes respire in an oxygen-deficient environment, the gas produced is not necessarily carbon dioxide and water, rather a significant proportion of the gas will comprise flammable gases, especially methane," he adds.

Biodigester processes

In other words, a biodigester takes waste from the farm and through a series of processes breaks down the organic waste and converts it into energy that can be used to run the farm.

The waste from the farm, which includes poultry and dairy effluent, will supplement the power needed for the farm and, according to Dr Campbell, based on its design, the digester can produce one-kilowatt outputs of energy.

"This can run a couple of Jamaican homes; one kilowatt can run an American home while a half kilowatt can run a Jamaican home," he reveals.

The researchers at UTech hope that one day the work will facilitate the production of biodigesters for farmers across the island and estimate that this would cost about US$1,000 (J$71,000). They also believe that the biodigester can be used on any farm, large or small.

Home usage

But what of use within the home which is a big consumer of energy? Dr Campbell said more work is needed to ascertain what is required to make this a reality.

"We would have to do other work in terms of home usage, because the waste available would be human waste and that's something we would have to look into because we are not sure of the value of human waste," he says.

Dr. Campbell, however, believes that the use of biodigesters on a wide scale can benefit the agricultural sector of Jamaica because they are more energy-sufficient and -efficient. This, he says, is a result of the process of gasification which yields clean fuel. Gasification can be achieved not only biologically, but thermally as well.

"Many sectors in agriculture are struggling to maintain profits. Gasification could be the answer to cutting energy costs. For example, in sugar manufacturing, you could be powering your plant and providing power to the nation from the bagasse waste that is being produced from the sugar," Dr Campbell explains.

Dr. Campbell also emphasises that protection of the environment should go hand in hand with this type of development, as the idea is also in protecting the long-term interests of the country's agricultural sector.

High energy budget