Biorefining with water hyacinth in China

Taihu lake with 2250 km2 is the third largest lake in China. This lake is located in west of Shanghai in an agriculatural province named Jiangsu. It is a very beautiful lake with many islands and also a local tourist attraction. We visited this lake last week. The wastes and wastewater from agriculture, industries and also municipal of the huge population who live around the lake, result in dramatic pollution of the water in the lake. It means the nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphates, etc. in the water is quite high. It is most likely difficult to stop draining of the wastewater into the lake, and it result in growth of algae, so the water becomes green. Therefore, the Chinese authorities decided to cultivate Water Hyacinth in the lake in order to clean the water and reduce the algae blooming. They planted more than 400 ha water hyacinth in the lake. As I saw the results, it had a great impact on water quality. However, the question is now what to do with this 200,000 tons water hyacinth per year. Let's hope our collaboration result in great improvement of the environment in that region.


(Algae blooming in Taihu lake in Chaina)


(Plantation of water hyacinth in the lake)


(Harvesting water hyacinth last week)

Peak oil debate

It is now many years that we hear about the oil production, if it will increase, decrease or stay as the same level as today. The fact is that the oil resources are limited and cannot end forever. But, we are extracting more and more. In 2010, the global oil production was 86.8 million barrels per day, compared to 84.6 million barrels/day in 2007. However, the current sources of the oil is converting to CO2 by human faster and faster, and we have to find new fields of crude oil and also invest on alternatives. The prognosis of International Energy Agency is the oil production to increase to 96 million barrels per day in 2035. So, we can say that we have a peak in the current oil fields, and perhaps a platue in the total oil productions, but an increase in the natural gas liquids and also the unconventional oils. So, why not to investo more on the oil with the biological sources?


(The IEA’s world oil production)

World subsidies for fossil- or biofuels?

When talking about biofuels, many actors and authorities complain that biofuels such as ethanol, biogas, biodiesel etc. cannot survive without subsidiary and need governmental financial support. It is a fact and can be true in several cases. However, a recent report from IEA- World Energy Outlook in 2011, shows that the world subsidies to fossil fuels in 2009 and 2010 was about 300 and 409 billion USD, respectively, while the subsidies for the biofuels was less than 20% of this amount.


(The data from IEA, and the picture has borrowed from here)

Green cities in the world

There is now a competition in the world to have "green", "carbon neutral" and "sustainable" cities. It is an interesting development, in which different cities are going to have less negative impacts on the environment. Hammarby Sjöstad is one of the districts in Stockholm (Sweden), that was established at the end of 1990s to win the olympic competition, but remains as a good example of sustainable cities. It attract several thousands visitors every year from all around the world. Another interesting example is Masdar City in Abu Dhabi (UAE), which is mentioned as the world's first carbon neutral city. Africa will also be part of this competition. The first green city in Africa is planned near Abuja (Nigeria) and called Abuja green city.

Borås is also working in this line since 1980s. The city has a goal to become fossil-free and sustainable city before 2020. The city was a pioneer in Sweden and has had a great development in the past, but still long way to go!

We, other organisms and natural resources!

There are millions of microorganisms and macroorganisms living on earth. In billions of years, the nature has created a perfect balance and synergy between these organisms and the available resources. If we follow the lifetime and recycling of a material, we realize that there are many different species involved in lifetime of the organisms. Each species take a little bit of the energy available in the material and provide the raw material or food for the next organism. We can follow for example how CO2 become a tree and fruit to serve many species until it becomes CO2 again.

However, we human, cut this chain and consume the materials and convert it directly to CO2 without thinking of other species. It means the lifetime of the materials we use has much shorter lifetime compared to what other species do in nature. More thinking about this fact can create enough jobs and possibility for everybody in the world, without quick consumption of our natural resources!

Waste Recovery in Brazil

We were last week in Brazil and made three agreements with the mayors and universities in different cities including Fortaleza and Sobral in north east of Brazil and Macae in vicinity of Rio de Janeiro. Macae is the city of petroleum of Brazil with about 80% of the total oil production in Brazil. The population of the city has expanded enormously in the last decades, and is now close to 300,000. Fortaleza is a also a fast growing tourist city with about 2.5 million inhabitants, while Sobral is the second largest city in the same province with about 200 thousand people. Macae and Fortaleza built their Waste Recovery with their municipalities, universities, companies (private and states) and also NGOs. Sobral is also planning to build it soon. Therefore, a lot of exchanges and collaboration between Sweden and Brazil in this field is expected to start soon, in education, visits, project planning, and implementations of various projects in waste treatment and resource recovery. Let's hope the best for our Brazilian partners!


(A child in a fruit market in Fortaleza, whom will hopefully have a better life, when we build a biogas plant in the market)


(Fortaleza, which has one of the best beaches in Brazil)

Hydropower plants: friend or foe?

Hydropower plants are generally considered as one of the most environmentally friendly methods for production of electricity. That's correct, if all the ecological aspects of the dams are considered. However, there are some cases that the hydropower plants are foe than friend to the environment.

There is a recent debate on Brazilian hydropower plants. The dams in this country result in flooding of the forest area. It result in anaerobic digestion of the organic materials (wood, leaves, etc.) in the water and formation of biogas and methane, which is 21 times worse than CO2 for the environment. Some studies show these hydropower plants to threat the environment more than fossil fuels. I believe it is a complicated case and could be true or not, depending on how to consider the factors. However, what is clear is the necessity of considering all the ecological aspects of each project.

Another similar case is the largest lake in Iran with 5,200 km2 called Orumieh, which is drying most likely because of the bad management and the dams of the feeding rivers. Dryness of this lake will result in disaster for the entire region, in terms of the ecological aspects, spreading the salts, and not least the economy of the people in that area. Lets hope for a higher weight facctor fot the environment in considering such projects.


(A hydropower plant in Brazil. The photo taken from SR)


(The large Urmia lake that is drying now)

Glass recycling in Sweden

When it comes to recycling of the waste materials, glass is generally one the materials that is considered to be recycled. Sweden has developed dedicated collections of trasparent and color glasses that are avialable close to all residential areas.

The data from 2009 shows that more than 90% of the glasses were recycled in Sweden. This recycling is mainly carried out by a company named "Svenska GlasÅtervinning". It is a good business with 177 million SEK turnover of just this company (data for 2010) as well as good for the environment.


(Recycling center for glasses. Photo from Göteborg Posten)

Making money of hazardous wastes

I was surfing today on the news, and I saw a conflict in Tehran which was about the wastes of a private hospital and its leakage that run on the street. Actually, this is a problem in many cities and countries.

Hazardous wastes should usually get the first priority in treatment and should not be mixed with other wastes. When talking about the hazardous wastes, we may talk about the hospital wastes, or the wastes containing organics like PCB, heavy metals such as cadmium, acids, bases, corrosive materials, silver, mercury, oils, etc.

One of the big companies in Sweden is SAKAB, that recieves about 500,000 tons/year hazardous wastes from different cities in Sweden. They have different technologies to take care of various hazardous wastes, and produce electricity and heat. It is a double payment for recieving the wastes and also selling the products, with almost nothing left to the environment. I wish them good luck with their work, and hope to see more such companies around the world.


(The plant at SAKAB in Kumla, Sweden that take care of the hazardous wastes)

Swedish Royal Family visited Waste Recovery

We had great day today with the visit of Swedish King Carl XVI Gustav and the Queen Silvia. As far as I know, it was their first visit to Borås together. It was a great PR for our work in Waste Recovery, which has a total solution to waste problems in its organization, including education, research, planning and implementations of waste treatment and resource recovery. When it comes to this total solution, we can most likely say that Borås is the best in Sweden, Sweden is the best in Europe and Europe is the best in the world.

Both the King and the Queen showed great interest to our work and the model that we develop for a more sustainable world, better environment and a better life of the scavengers!



(The king, queen and me, Photo taken by Borås Tidningen)