September 4, 2022 | Mzungu Wine | Think Outside Of Boxes
One nearly inexaustable source of biomass is the invasive water hyacinth which clogs our lakes and island shorelines creating oxygen deprived waters fish can not survive in as well as displacing natural species biodiversity. Harvesting can be done with existing technologies to remove the whole plants, extract the water, ferment and then use biodigesters to produce a standardized natural gas. This fermented material can be used in low-tech anaerobic boilers to produce diesel fuel. Using stills ethanol can be produced eliminating the use of maize for ethanol when maize is better used as food and livestock feed. These principles apply regardless of the biomass source be that grapes or potato mash or waragi or wood pulp or food waste for producing ethanol a basic industrial commodity. Naturally distilled ethanol will take on the fruity flavor of a fruit source and can be dehydrated to make ethylene, another important chemical feedstock for making polyethlene plastics used in medical grade recyclable food packaging. 99.5% denatured ethanol is the much preferred medical antiseptic over toxic isopropyl alcohol.
Uganda has very significant reservoirs of sweet light crude and natural gas in the northern Lake Albert Region, likely many times the official estimates of recoverable crude and natgas. These rich hydrocarbons are as little as 400m below the surface and generally no deeper than 1000m making extraction and refinement of this light to medium sweet crude and natgas very low cost with the right technologies end to end costs might be below $25 per barrel. This oil and gas can be piped to local and regional refineries.
*The* fail-safe future of energy TMSRs have the smallest ecological land use footprint of any energy source. Carbon free electrical power at the lowest cost. Proven in the 1960s to be safe, not produce dangerous wastes, and do not require expensive regular refueling. While there are several companies ready to go, the conventional nuclear industries are making billion$ each year on supplying Uranium fuel pellets and rods, dealing with spent yet still 'hot' rods, and decomissioning old plants. The waste from these conventional nuclear plants provides material for nuclear weapons, which Thorium Molten Salt Thermo Reactors can not. These reactors of 75-100 Megawatt/hr of steady reliable output can be transported on a few trucks and assembled onsite in months. 20 of these units placed around the country would more than double Uganda's current power production and make every location a center for economic activity.