AgriCircle

We are experiencing unprecedented environmental degradation, pollution, and water shortage due to increased anthropogenic activities and contemporary agricultural practices. AgriCircle addresses these issues through the following:

• Allowing communities to recycle their waste and use it to produce energy and biofertilizer, and recycle water and plastic.

• The process promotes a local circular economy while virtually eliminating water pollution and the need for landfill, resulting in a carbon-negative community footprint while conserving natural resources. 

• The base system can be modularised and easily transported on a truck, allowing for flexible use anywhere in the world while adapting to local climate and socio-political conditions. 

• This inclusive system can therefore economically, ecologically and socially benefit residents in informal settlements by supporting local agriculture and workforce development.

Currently, our global lifestyle contributes to the depletion of natural resources as well as CO2 emissions. Today’s agricultural practices consume 70% of the world’s clean water. It is estimated that we will need to increase production by 70% to achieve the world’s food supply by 2050, leading to severe water scarcity (World Water Development Report). Energy generation obtained from fossil fuels generates 77% of GHG (Our World Data), while contributing to global climate change. 

Vulnerable communities including political, environmental, refugees, IDPs and people living in informal settlements in particular are at risk of experiencing the effects of these realities, often encountering severe water shortages and droughts, in addition to economic and political instability. Our project addresses these problems holistically within the Resilient Ecosystems Challenge by using a scalable waste-to-energy and waste-to-agriculture system to provide social and economic opportunities for underserved communities. The flexible and modular system can be adapted to suit the specific needs of various locales and can be mobile to support temporary settlements such as refugee camps and off-the-grid, self-sustaining communities.

AgriCircle assembles new and existing technologies into a modular mobile unit to maximise efficiency and treat water and waste. The technology is part of a larger system that leverages existing site infrastructure to improve water efficiency and bring economic incentives to the community via farming, education, and training. The system is scalable and can be adapted to serve small-medium sized communities. The system consists of the following modules, applying patented cutting edge processes with existing technologies:

• Module 1 recycles plastic and plant fibres from household waste to create cement-free bio-concrete for building materials

• Module 2 produces bio-substrate and biofertilizer for farming from a variety of materials including recycled plant fibres, stubble, and paper and/or sugar mill sludge (where available)

• Module 3 converts remnant waste not used into modules 1 and 2 into electricity and heat

• Module 4 treats wastewater, greywater, and rain for irrigation purposes and uses biodigesters to create biogas that can be used as cooking gas.

Based on existing site, economic and environmental conditions, the above modular system can be modified to adapt to the needs of the community in an off-grid and mini-grid arrangement. 

AgriCircle empowers users by promoting food production, recycling waste into energy and viable building materials, and recycling water. This makes the system ideal for vulnerable communities who may experience food insecurity due to climate change and/or socio-political conflict. It enables self-sustaining development and responsible food production, benefiting the environment as well as the local economy. In hot and arid conditions in particular, it highlights the importance of water conservation and enables communities to recycle grey and wastewater for agricultural irrigation. As part of seed-funded research supported by the UK Royal Academy of Engineering - Frontiers of Engineering for Development, we have examined challenges and extent of use of recycled water systems in residential properties, in four case studies: Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa. 

Based on a review of related literature, and questionnaire surveys of households, the micro-social, economic and technical challenges were identified together with homeowners’ adoption levels and willingness to use recycling water systems. The findings of this study assisted us in developing a data-driven decision-making framework, in building a capacity for analysis of new water reuse intervention strategies, which commensurate with the capabilities and resources of urban authorities and communities. This proposal is therefore part of this conceptual structure, improving education and access to water recycling and farming enabling solutions while generating economic incentives and enabling education for implementing new technologies. 

AgriCircle aligns most closely with the Resilient Ecosystems challenge because it creates scalable economic opportunities for vulnerable communities by leveraging waste to create energy and building materials, generating fertilizer and recycling water to enable regenerative agriculture. Through the use of patented technology and an application model focused on social inclusion, users are trained to use the system, creating a model for a circular economy while promoting education.

Three of the technologies are in the final stage of negotiation with investors. We already have letters of intent from the local government and from the producers' organisation.

The technology from Module 1 CEMENT-FREE has been developed as a prototype to collect data on thermal comfort inside the small scale building. 

The biofertilizer produced from the CEMENT-FREE technology has been applied in two pineapple fields. Both cultivation soils are part of the regional association of pineapple producers in the southeast area of México, providing favourable results in quantity and quality.

For the technology in Module 4, the water recycling unit, a pilot plant will be built within the next 3 months to help farmers suffering from water scarcity in central Mexico. 

AgriCircle is an innovative and holistic approach to the sustainable development of resilient communities because it is enabled by social capital as well as energy and resource-producing technologies. It is a multidisciplinary approach to convert liquid and solid wastes into benefits without pollutant residues.

While the technology serves as the base for the system, the method of its deployment is inclusive, adapting to the size and community's uses and customs vis-à-vis an integrated appropriation module and a link to regional education centres. It is catalytic because it empowers communities to produce their own energy and benefit from the production of fertilizer and sustainable building material. We expect it to not only change the energy market by rendering vulnerable communities to be self-reliant but also have broader positive effects on the environment due to the minimisation of pollutants and the recycling of water.

Vulnerable communities generally lack a high capacity electric net for energy distribution, so the flexibility and mobility of the solution are key. AgriCircle can be scaled to service small-medium sized communities of up to 1000 inhabitants (or more with larger units), providing electricity, heat, energy for food processing, and water purification from wastewater treatment.

Small units are easily transported to the site and can be easily moved to other locations if needed. 

AgriCircle has an output of 1 kW/day per inhabitant. Depending on the size of the unit, they can service the following communities:

For the first year:

a) 22 kW processing 1 ton/day of MSW, generated in communities from 1000 to 1400 inhabitants

For five years or more:

b) 44 kW processing 2 ton/day of MSW, generated in communities from 2000 to 2800 inhabitants

Jobs are also generated for community's members from the material produced, as well as the education needed to run the units. This solution has a built-in educational component to improve social conditions.

AgriCircle addresses the triple bottom line by recycling water, converting waste into energy and building materials to minimise carbon footprints, as well as fostering agriculture through fertilizer production through a social and economically inclusive model. Improvements in the community along the following indicators associated with the UN Sustainable Development Goals will be used to measure progress:

SDG6 Clean Water and Sanitation: 

6.1 Universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water

6.3 Improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and reducing the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally

6.4 Substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors; address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity

6.6 Protect and restore water-related ecosystems

SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy

7.1 Universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services

7.2 Increase substantially the share of renewable energy

7.3 Improvement in energy efficiency

SDG9 Resilient infrastructure and foster innovation

SDG10 Reduce inequalities

SDG11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

SDG12 Responsible production and consumption

SDG13 Climate action

We are universities and private business entities working together under a consortium funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK.

Dr. Isaac Akinwumi

Dr. Kourosh Behzadian

Dr. Karen Blay

Joaquín Diazsolano

Dr. Abid Mehmood

Dr. Alireza Moghayedi

Dr. Leo Choe Peng

Dr.rer.nat. Martha Poisot

Paul Michael Pelken

Vasilena Vassilev

We are a multidisciplinary international team with well-recognised experience in the academic, industrial and innovation fields with a deep understanding of the dynamics of communities, systems, and the built environment.

Within our team’s constellation, we have design and engineering expertise in the following areas:

• Urban water systems, decision support tools for sustainability, resilience and metabolism-based performance

• Material science focused on adding value from industrial or agro wastes

• Membrane technology for biogas purification and wastewater recycling

• Implementation of agricultural and industrial wastes to improve the properties of soils and other construction materials for construction purposes and on water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)

• Expertise on the design, manufacturing and implementation of energy systems focused on biomass and biogas from wastewater  

• Construction Innovation in the built environment

• Architecture, urban planning, sustainable community design and development

• Social innovation and sustainable development to address the climate challenge

• Social cohesion for community empowerment and co-production of joint solutions for better adoption of the modular technological solutions

• Social entrepreneurship and social business to reduce unemployment 

• Digital information resilience, sustainable digitised infrastructure, an adaptation of digital tools from a socio-technical perspective for the socio-technical requirements and capabilities for AgriCircle.

• Improvement of Quality of Life of marginalised communities in the Global South through developing resilient, inclusive and sustainable solutions using innovative technologies

We strongly value diversity and inclusion and have built our collaboration and business model on these principles. We are an international team representing a range of professional and academic backgrounds. We are diverse in ethnicity and geographic location, representing Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia, Mexico and the UK, with female leadership making up approximately 50% of the team’s constellation. Our leadership team has extensive experience working with the vulnerable populations for which AgriCircle is targeted, and we have completed research within these communities on the feasibility of the systems proposed.

We are applying to Solve in order to gain access to the invaluable network of partners and mentors. We have identified certain Legal, Educational, and Market challenges that may affect the current proposal and implementation of the technology. We believe that the network can evaluate and review our system in a way that will help us strengthen and streamline our vision, and identify opportunities to optimise function while maximising impact, socially and technologically.

We are looking for partners to help us realise our goals, to implement a model for sustainable living and a circular economy for vulnerable communities. Due to the nature of the project, funding for such an operation does not follow traditional business models and requires investor and/or government aid to implement the initial technology and train users. While these funding gaps can be filled by local institutions and NGOs, it may be necessary to connect to investors to fund the startup costs. We are therefore looking for legal and/or financial partners for these initial stages. Once the technology is operational, it will be self-sustaining, but any other legal or regulatory manners will need to be addressed at the local level, so we are also interested in connecting to institutions or entities that can provide such advice, especially for IP and international expansion.

Many project partners have recently collaborated on funded projects mentioned above to support refugee settlements. The team fully understands the emotional trauma and uncertain future prospects that people are often faced with when leaving their homes in the wake of persecution, wars and other disasters.   

• This project provides opportunities for refugees in particular. The training programmes targeted at the youth and women in refugee settlements will particularly focus on developing technical and business skills.  

• Specially designed workshops by the expert partners will be delivered on promoting and developing social entrepreneurship among the refugees

• There is a strong emphasis on social inclusion and acceptance of refugees in the host nations. For this purpose, joint programmes will be organised to create a healthy atmosphere within the wider community 

• Providing and developing technical expertise and skills through training will be thoroughly emphasised in the project

Our team is composed of international experts from a variety of social, national and ethnic backgrounds and experiences in the perfect position to bring through AgriCircle as a way of STEM education in informal settlements, vulnerable or refugee communities. For example, due to the formal link with high educational institutions, residents will have access to training opportunities in order to be able to efficiently run the system. AgriCircle’s energy will provide the opportunity to bring net service to the community enabling contact with other STEM activities around the world. Girls and women will be empowered by identifying a role model to follow. We, therefore, believe this prize will further help us achieve our goals.