Go Green with Water Hyacinth

As the population number is increasing, Bangladesh is facing energy crisis. The main energy reservoirs, fossil fuel and natural gas resources will be depleted soon. So, we need a way out to combat this problem.

Water hyacinth can be our savior to overcome energy shortage. This plant can be used for biogas production, waste water treatment and also fertilizer production. It can serve as an ecofriendly, renewable, cost effective source of energy. 

This biogas production plant can solve the increasing demand of energy of Bangladeshi people and the production plant will mitigate the unemployment problem to some extent.

Current major energy sources such as oil, gas, coal etc. are getting exhausted very fast, necessitating to find a source of suitable renewable energy. The main energy source, natural gas  is likely to exhaust its gas reserve by about 2025 according to a report of The Daily Star. This depletion of energy will adversely affect the economic growth of the country. 

People from both urban and rural area will suffer the consequences of this crisis. Already gas supply in many areas is not adequate and new connections are not available.

Also the use of fossil fuel as energy source is not ecofriendly as it increases the carbon di oxide emission thus contribute to environmental pollution.

Use of water hyacinth to produce bioenergy can help us to cope with the energy crisis and it will contribute to increase the financial growth of the country and will provide job opportunity for the unemployed youth of the country.

The production of bioenergy from water hyacinth will serve people of all walks of life in Bangladesh.

For cooking, transport and electricity production to improve people life, this renewable energy resource is essential. 

As people are already suffering from the energy crisis and unemployment problem, the biogas production plant will help the people of Bangladesh to improve their life by providing ecofriendly, low cost energy source and job opportunity in the biogas plant.

In agriculture, farmers can utilize the residual as fertilizer to improve soil fertility. This will help agricultural crop production.

For production of bioenergy from water hyacinths, at first it will be grown in large water bodies available in our country.Then after collection and processing of the plant, an appropriate digester will be used to produce methane gas. The conversion of dried, processed plant to methane is done by various microorganisms. We can select the best suitable microorganisms for efficient production of gas. The parameters for high production of gas will be optimized. Then after production and purification, the gas will be distributed throughout the country. Small biogas plant will be established in many areas of the country.

The water hyacinths can be grown in waste water thus it can be used in waste water treatment plant. And the residual after the digestion and production of biogas, can be used as fertilizer.

The production of biogas from water hyacinth is used in India, China and USA etc. But in Bangladesh, this project plan can be applied as water hyacinth can be produced in large amount in our country. And we can optimize the production process and high gas production by choosing the inoculum, the microrganisms that work in the conversation process. And the parameters of the gas production will be modified according to need.

As this approach will serve the population of Bangladesh which was not previously done, in that sense it is an innovative approach.

As biogas production from water hyacinth plant is ongoing in countries like China, India and USA. And they are getting positive results from the projects. So it can be used in Bangladesh to serve as a renewable energy source.

As the idea is at concept stage, it will need sometime to implement the project idea in reality. If the idea can be implemented successfully, in one year biogas plant can serve people of a city. And if proper funding is available the project can be established in different sites of the country to meet the energy demands of the million residents in both urban and rural area.

At first, our goal is to establish an efficient, cost effective, high yielding biogas plant using water hyacinth. If we are successful then we can aim for pilot scale production. If positive result is found then we can go for large scale production. So, if proper funding is available, the biogas plant can be established in many areas of the country to serve people suffering from energy deficit.

There are some hindrance that impedes the project from establishing. The first one is the financial problem. We need funding to start up the project. Then to improvise the project and for large scale production we need technical optimization of different parameters of the production process to increase the yield of gas. Enthusiastic researchers will be needed to work out the plan and accelerate the production rate. And government patronization is also required for widespread implementation of the project.

If we can win the challenge, the funding will help us to start up the project. As a microbiologist, we have potential to optimize the parameters to increase tha gas production rate and solve the technical problems. Government certification will be collected to continue the project. Futher funding can be managed from different national and international organizations by creating partnership with them.

Our team consists of two microbiologists graduated from University of Dhaka. As microbiologist, we have gathered our knowledge about microrganisms, how to deal with them and utilize them. The main barrier of the project is to increase the yield of gas production by selecting suitable microorganisms in the conversion process of water hyacinth to methane gas. The selection and identification of suitable microorganisms can be easily done with our experience of microbiology. The parameters can be optimized using our research skill and microbiological background.

The project of biogas production can serve both the rural and urban people suffering the consequences of energy deficit. Such plant can provide energy for cooking, lighting and even fuel for engine in transportation. This will enable the economic growth and sustainable development of the country. The project will create job opportunity in the technical section for the unemployed people. 

In waste water plant, implementation of the idea will benefit the people to reduce environmental pollution and healthy life in future. 

The residuals of the digestor will provide source of fertilizers for the farmers to yield better crop. Thus it can help to improve the overall production rate and economic growth of the country.

Large biogas plant can serve for the community and mitigate the energy crisis.

At first, the project start up will be done by grants and donations. Once the plant is successfully established by selling the gas to the people, the expenses of the project will be compensated. The residual fertilizer will be another source of income. By creating partnership with other companies, large scale production will be possible. 

As the production cost of water hyacinth is very low, the main cost will be in processing and technical cost. By implementing biogas project in the waste water plant, we can collaborate with different companies to clean the waste water. Thus we can create partnership among different industries.

 Overall, the plant will be very cost effective and it will be very easy to cover up the expenses, once the biogas plant is successfully implemented.

Reference: answer is provided with the question about barriers above.

We would like to partner with research groups of microbiology and energy institute. And for financial help we can collaborate with other enthusiastic organizatins. Different industrial plant using waste water treatment plant can also join in the partnership. With cooperation of all, the solution can be successfully implemented.