E4D Fellow: Jonathan Olal Ogwang
Enhancing Anaerobic Digestion Systems for Sustainable Waste Management and Sanitation
Addressing Failure Factors, Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Optimising Bioavailability of Organic Fractions in Faecal Sludge
Project Duration: 2022-2025
Supervisor at ETH Zurich:
Prof. Johan Six, Sustainable Agroecosystems
Further Information: RUNRES
Collaborators:
To be updated in due course.
Partner Institutions:
external page Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Research & Development Centre, South Africa.
Inspired by humanity's diversity and understanding its complex, ever-changing problems, Jonathan is a civil engineer whose skills, experience and passion are focused on sustainable solutions centred around waste, water, renewable energy and sanitation. Much of Jonathan’s professional and academic work over the past five years has focused on anaerobic digestion in Malawi, Uganda and South Africa: as an engineer, researcher, consultant, and project manager.
Contact:
Project Description
Waste management, sanitation, and energy provision present significant challenges for most Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. Inspired by its promise, considerable investments have been made in anaerobic digestion (AD) projects across Africa. However, despite these efforts, AD has yet to gain significant traction in SSA.
Moreover, much of the existing work on AD tends to focus on its theoretical transformative potential while overlooking critical factors contributing to its limited success. This research seeks to address three key themes within the context of AD systems in SSA: contextualising and characterising project outcomes, comparing digestate with other fertilisers and their associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and exploring pre-treatment techniques to enhance the bioavailability of organic fractions in faecal sludge (FS).
The research analyses datasets and primary data from South Africa and Malawi to understand socio-technical factors contributing to AD failures in SSA. This qualitative research provides insights into reasons for project success or failure, redefining outcomes for new strategies.
Widespread AD failure has environmental and societal implications. Digestate from AD is a valuable sustainable agricultural fertilizer, but minimising GHG emissions, especially nitrous oxide, is crucial for optimizing agricultural management. Extensive field experiments in South Africa will compare digestate application with other products, providing insights into their GHG implications and efficacy for crop nutrition.
AD has growing interest as a treatment step for FS management in low- and middle-income countries, but limited understanding has led to process failures. The study focuses on pre-treatment techniques to enhance organic fractions' bioavailability in FS, optimising treatment, biogas production and potentially facilitating co-digestion with organic waste.
Research outcomes will inform AD stakeholders, enabling strategy reassessment and minimising impacts of failed projects in South Africa, Malawi, and similar regions. This research aims at sustainable waste management, sanitation practices, and GHG emission reduction, fostering successful AD systems in SSA and beyond.