The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) will be hosting the SATREPS “Production of biofuels from algae biomass” Technology Transfer hybrid event on Thursday, 17 March 2022.

This joint research project is in collaboration with eThekwini Municipality, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) in South Africa. Counterparts in Japan also playing a vital role in the project include Nagoya University, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and Aichi Shukutoku University. This project is supported by the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development Program (SATREPS) which is funded by JICA and co-funded by Japan Science and Technology (JST) and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), South Africa.

IWWT’s Director, Prof Faizal Bux indicated that DUT is the first in Africa to develop technology for the large-scale application of producing biofuels from microalgae grown on wastewater. He said this project contributes directly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) and circular economy which is imperative in terms of promoting green energy.

“The Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT) at DUT has been involved in algae biomass beneficiation research for the last 15 years. The algal demonstration plant at Kingsburgh Wastewater Treatment Plant in the eThekwini Municipality was constructed in 2010 with a focus on the production of biofuels from algae grown on wastewater. In 2016, IWWT formed a partnership with the Japanese to develop a technology package for full-scale applications,” explained Prof Bux.

Stating the aim of the project, Prof Bux said it is the development of a cost-effective process for the production of biofuels from microalgae as a step towards commercialisation and the development of the renewable energy industry.

“The objectives of the project were to increase lipid accumulation in algae cultivated in wastewater, develop efficient technologies to harvest biomass and extract lipid, produce fertilizer products (agrimat) with algae residues after lipid extraction, and develop a business model based on these technologies.

The objectives of the workshop are to increase the public, industries, and other stakeholders’ awareness of the project and share the new knowledge/technologies for the further advance of science and technology. The workshop will serve as the official handover of the technology from the Japanese to South African partners. This will also serve as a cross-disciplinary platform for industry-research interaction in this important field,” said Prof Bux.

Furthermore, he added that the event will increase the visibility of current research of national and international priority being conducted by DUT to stakeholders within the country and abroad. Prof Bux noted that the event will showcase the strides made by the University in moving projects from basic research to applied scale at the multinational level. In addition, Prof Bux stated that the event will further enhance the reputation of the University for doing world-class research and undertaking multinational projects

Most importantly, Prof Bux stated that the project contributed to human capacity development and the establishment of strategic research links between the participating South African and Japanese teams and institutions, which resulted in generating knowledge and technologies for the conservation and utilisation of natural resources.

“The project has established that the fundamental DME technology is effective for lipid extraction from wet algal biomass and there is potential for scale-up. Japan and South African sides agreed to continue this collaboration to potentially improve the DME technology scale for commercial applications in order to nationally implement the technology package,” added Prof Bux.

After the event, he indicated the partners will be in discussion in rolling out the developed technology to other interested parties both on the continent and globally.

The main speakers of the event are:

Prof Faizal Bux (S.A project leader) Durban University of Technology (DUT);

Dr Adornis Nciizah Agricultural Research Council (ARC),

Assit. Prof. Hideki Kanda (Japan project leader) Nagoya University ;

Asso. Prof. Satoshi Watanabe Aichi Shukutoku University;

Asso. Prof. Siaw Onwona Agyeman Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

Pictured: IWWT’s Director, Professor Faizal Bux.

Simangele Zuma