Smart waste management for Biomass enhancement. Case study of used paper in Kigali city

Abstract

Subsaharan countries face problems of accessing clean sources of energy to satisfy basic needs like cooking, heating, lighting. Moreover, the implementation of modern practices for waste management is not well adopted especially within evaluated towns where the population is increasing rapidly compared to the average. Kigali faces the same challenges need fast initiatives from stakeholders. This research aims to highlight the possible jump from waste to energy to mitigate both challenges of waste management and access to clean cooking. In this work, it is suggested how to make biomass briquette from used office paper collected from three campuses of the University of Rwanda in Kigali. On used paper, clay soil brought from Bugesera District and peat brought from Rusizi District were added under different ratios respectively to improve the mechanical characteristics and calorific value of the briquettes. Most laboratory test has been conducted at IPRC Tumba, in Northen province and only the calorific value test at Rwanda Standard Board in Kigali. Convincing results have been found on the sample R2(80;15,5) and R3(70;20,10) concentration in raw material being respectively used office paper, peat, and clay soil. These samples present the respectively 10.73% and 10,51% for moisture content, 99.75% and 99.9% for shatter indices, 99.73% and 99.79% for Tumbling resistance, 74.44% and 69.72% for water penetration resistance then 13,100kJ/kg and 12,840kJ/kg for calorific value. This project research is input on waste to energy philosophy in sub-Saharan Africa and should be adopted to tackle challenges related to climate change and target to reach sustainable goals by 2030.