Chemolex Company

As a winner, I will leverage on the network of key decision makers and strategic partners within the platform to improve our impacts within the energy sector. 

The prize money will help us in supplying the multi-purpose bio-fuel to 200000 households in off-grid communities for use in cooking and lighting as well as powering motor bikes which is the major means of transport in Kenyan off-grid communities. This will significantly eliminate the 21650 deaths caused by the exposure to smoke from inefficient fuel sources such as charcoal, parafin, dung and firewood.

The prize money will help to us to remove up to 50 tons of the invasive water hyacinth plants from Lake Victoria thus controlling its aggressive growth that has significantly affected transport and fishing within the lake. The aggressive growth of the  water hyacinth plants have resulted into increased malaria and bilharzia within the lake region since the plants acts as conducive habitat for diseases causing microorganisms such as anopheles mosquitoes.  

By supplying the multi-purpose biofuel, we will power more than 4000 motor bikes thus enabling rural farmers and fishmongers( mostly women) to transport their farm produce to the right market at the right time thus curbing post-harvest losses.  

 When I was young, we could spend up to 4 hours everyday fetching for firewood  for use in cooking and lighting at night. My father( a fisherman) could also spend USD 40 monthly on purchasing kerosene. Despite the high cost of the fuel, we developed eye complications, and other chronic illness due to prolonged exposure to smoke from kerosene, and charcoal. My mother was also not able participate in viable economic activity as she spent 60% of her daytime searching for firewood. With the invasion of Lake Victoria by the water hyacinth plants in 1999, our only source of livelihood which was fishing was significantly affected as the lake was entirely covered by the invasive plants and was therefore impassable. The invasive plants also killed more than 60% of the fish population in the lake. More than 1 million riparian households were adversely affected as these invasive plants also acted as micro-habitats for malaria causing organisms. It is due to my first hand experience with these challenges that I developed the passion and
co-founded my organization that can utilize evidenced based scientific knowledge in industrial chemistry to produce clean and 60% affordable fuel from the invasive water hyacinth plants. The biofuel is currently used for cooking and in lighting households as well as powering motor bikes for transport services as well as fish
preservation. Our vision is to ensure accessible and reliable energy for use in domestic purposes as well as powering businesses that would bridge the economic inequality in off-grid rural households. 

According to the 2020 Clean Cooking Alliance Report, 10 million households in Kenya still use smoke emitting energy sources such as firewood, charcoal, paraffin and dung for cooking and lighting. Overdependence on these biomass for cooking and heating leads to environmental degradation from
increased pressure on local natural resources and forces women and children to spend many hours each week collecting wood. Also,exposure to smoke from these inefficient fuels have resulted to 21650 deaths in Kenya annually and contributes to a range of chronic illnesses and acute health impacts such as early childhood pneumonia,emphysema, lung cancer, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, and low birth weight. Women and young
children are the most affected, with close to 5,000 children in Kenya dying every year as a result of acute lower respiratory infections caused by the smoke from the use of these inefficient solid fuels.
Many households still use these inefficient fuel sources because they are much cheaper and accessible compared to other alternatives such as biogas. 

Chemolex therefore solves the energy challenges by using the invasive water hyacinth plants from Lake Victoria to produce clean and affordable multi-purpose biofuel that is currently supplied to 10000 households in Kenya. 

Our organization utilizes an innovative advanced bioconversion to produce clean and affordable multi-purpose biofuel from the invasive water hyacinth plants. Compared to other sources of energy in off-grid
communities, the multi-purpose biofuel can be used in several ways such as cooking and lighting in households and powering small scale businesses such as motor bikes for transport services in offgrid communities and providing clean energy to preserve food and other agricultural produce. Our main
objective is to be an enabler of socio-economic advancement in rural off-grid households by providing reliable and affordable biofuel that would be a key driver of major economic activities in the rural households.
The use of advanced bio-conversion technology enables us to produce clean and affordable multi-purpose biofuel with very minimal investments and no production of toxic waste products that normally
pollute the environment. The technology also uses the invasive water hyacinth plants which are non-edible and contributes to adverse health and ecological impacts to the riparian communities around Lake
Victoria. Currently we are able to control the aggressive growth of the invasive plants in the lake thereby opening up the lake for tourism, transport, fishing and reducing the deaths of fish.

Chemolex Company currently to produce 50000 liters of the multi-purpose biofuel per month that is supplied to 10000 households and 1650 motor bikes operators. The use of the biofuel have  reduced the energy cost for these households by more 55% to USD 15 monthly. This has provided enough leverage for these households to save for other important needs
such as education, food and housing. 

The use of of the clean multi-purpose biofuel has also reduced
mortalities and diseases that were previously caused by exposure to smoke produced by inefficient fuel such as kerosene and charcoal. By reducing mortalities and sickness, the health expenditure for both
households and governments has significantly reduced hence relieving the pressure on the limited medical resources in the country.
Chemolex Company also removes an average of 100 tonns  of the invasive water hyacinth plants per month from the lake which has thereby controlled the aggressive growth of the plant. This has improved the accessibility
of the lake for transport as well as fishing. The reduction in the growth of the plants has also reduced the number of deaths of fish which results from the invasion of the lake by the water hyacinth.