VICE-Chancellor, University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof. Lilian Salami on Friday commissioned the Actuate Biodigester Site, a project funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF -EPSRC), and the Global Research Translation Award (GRTA).
Speaking during the commissioning, Salami restated her commitment to ensuring that the institution remains a potential hub for environmental research and sustainability.
In his remarks, the Actuate Team Lead, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye said the ACTUATE project is a translation of the Recirculate Project which is also funded by the GCRF and has Lancaster University UK, Lancaster University Ghana and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana as partners.
He stated that the success of the Recirculate Project led to the translation award as the project provided the platform to develop the biogas technology in the laboratory, while the Actuate Project represents the actual deployment of the technology in the field.
While conducting the Vice Chancellor and other management team of the university round the facility, Ezemonye explained how waste, particularly cattle rumen, is used to produce biogas through the anaerobic digestion process and how the biogas is converted to electricity which powers the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation (CGE-Nigeria) Building for about seven hours daily.
While receiving complimentary packs of the digestate, which is a by-product of the anaerobic digestion process, produced by the UNIBEN Actuate team, Prof. Salami commended Ezemonye and his team for achieving the project objectives.
Highpoint of the occasion was a practical demonstration of the use of biogas produced at the site to run a 6.5KVA generator.
