July 8, 2011
Spirulina is the most nutritious food on the planet. It is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals in an easily digestible form – which makes it incredibly good for the body. It is a food supplement that can be used by anybody at anytime. Amongst other things it is very good for people infected with the HIV virus, the malnourished, anaemic, diabetic, etc. It is very good for the elderly as it is for children. It has particular benefits for athletes and gym goers
This is a microscopic plant and is grown in a highly controlled aquatic environment that is designed to replicate its natural habitat. In fact East Africa is considered to be the natural home of Spirulina since it exists naturally in many of the Rift Valley alkaline lakes, for example, Lake Nakuru, Elmentaita, Bogoria and Crater Lake. The appearance of the water in these lakes is a deep green, this is from the Spirulina in the water. It is one of two primary foods for the flamingos, so where there are flamingos you are very very likely to find Spirulina.
Spirulina was re-discovered in the early 60’s by some French scientists at Lake Chad. Since then it has become one of the most researched foods of modern time. There are over 400 studies highlighting the vast and varied benefits of this super-food. In West Africa they have been growing Spirulina since the late ‘80s’ – due to it being a more francophone thing. In Burkina Faso the government has funded large Spirulina farms in order to offer high quality nutrition to those living with HIV in the country. In Chad there are several projects funded by the WFP which encourages the cultivation of Spirulina against malnutrition. The US is the largest consumer of Spirulina and over there exist the two of the largest Spirulina farms, one in California and the other in Hawaii.
For two years now Dunga Spirulina has developed the practical technology to grow Spirulina in the most environmentally friendly way. Indeed Spirulina cultivation is considered one of the most green forms of agriculture – requiring far less water and non fertile land to product high quality nutrition. Apart from offering this nutrition, Dunga Spirulina is training farmers on how to grow this food for their own nutrition and for income generation. As traditional forms of agriculture fail due to a warming planet, we see Spirulina as a food with great potential in the region.
What remains currently is awareness of this product. As awareness increases so will the interest in growing this food and in our opinion so will the nutritional status of people in the region. We see a great need to rethink traditional agriculture and develop technologies that can be used in the near future.
Guest posting by Jagpal Sandhu – Spirulina Producer and founder of “Dunga Spirulina”, Kisumu – Kenya
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
July 8, 2011
Tucked away in a little corner of Kisumu overlooking the small bay which is part of and opens up to Lake Victoria, very close to the Kisumu Yacht Club is a man who is producing spirulina. Jagpal Sandhu is the Director and a self made producer of micro-algae spirulina and Dunga is the location in Kisumu where he grows it.
Dunga Spirulina” that is the name of the small enterprise which has the capacity of growing/harvesting up to 5kg a day. The spirulina is grown, harvested, dried, ground and packaged all in the small compound right next to the lake in Dunga – Kisumu. Dunga Spirulina is the first company in the EA region to successfully grow Spirulina sustainably. Jagpal unlike other organizations and NGOs in Kisumu has decided to open his spirulina to a different market than the one of the sick and malnourished. He sells his spirulina in a nicely vacuum sealed package to the higher market as a natural food supplement. As demand grows so too does his production facility. The company is building more ponds and placing in the ponds a motorized paddle wheel to facilitate movement of the algae in the ponds. Thick plastic covers are being placed on the ponds to avoid cross-breeding and contamination of the spirulina. Dunga Spirulina is currently available in;
- Healthy U Stores Countrywide (Kenya),
- Healthy U in Nairobi – Junction, Sarit Centre, Yaya Centre, T-Mall, Westgate, Village Market.
- Healthy U Express Stores inside Nakumatt: Junction, Karen, Ngong Road, Mega, Lifestyle, Village Market, Westgate, Embakasi.
- Healthy U in Kisumu – Nakumatt Nyanza and Mega City.
- Healthy U in Mombasa – Nyali and Likoni.
- Zucchini in Naiorbi – ABC Place, Junction and Village Market,
- Elixir Health in Village Market – on top of the food court.
- Patsons Chemist in Swan Centre, and Maruti Pharmacy in Kisumu
- And will soon be available in other East African countries.
Jagpal decided to start growing his own spirulina after having attended a basic course on spirulina growing and harvesting at IIMSAM Headquarters just outside Kisumu. IIMSAM gave Jagpal the basic knowledge on how to grow spirulina. He used that knowledge to establish his farm and produce spirulina in an open pond system. Dunga Spirulina is highly nutritious and provides you with all the protein, vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients needed by your body on a daily basis. Dunga Spirulina is 100% Pure Spirulina Powder.
Various images taken on-site at Dunga Spirulina
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Rome – Italy
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
June 13, 2011
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
June 3, 2011
It is a fact that one hectare of land is equivalent to about the size of two full size football fields roughly 10,000m2 or 0.01km2. What does that have to do with Energy you may ask?
The UK is using over 1.6 million hectares of land in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mali, Guinea, Senegal and Tanzania) to produce biofuel; that is the size of 3.2 million football fields or 16,000km2 (the size of Swaziland). If we then consider how much African land is being used by the EU to produce biofuels from agricultural products in Africa the number doubles to 3.2 million acres, or over ¾ the size of The Netherlands. This is due to the fact that the EU has to adhere to a target to produce 10 percent of transport energy from biofuels by 2020.
All this land which could be used to grow agricultural products is being used to grow feedstock for biofuels in countries where the main concern is to bring food to the table of hungry children this does not seem sensible, and is contributing the rise of food prices. Furthermore, the production process can emit from 3 to 6 times more greenhouse gases.
These enterprises are marginally helping development in these countries and are producing little employment for the local communities. The feed stock is grown, harvested, fuel produced and shipped out. It is not sustainable!
Recently Kenya changed its mind on the full implementation of a 50,000 hectare jathropha project near Malindi. The Kenyan franchise of the Italian company “Nuove Iniziative Industriali” has had to turn its full scale jatropha project into a small scale pilot after the Kenyan government considerably reduced the 50,000 hectare site as a consequence of protests by the Kenyan environmental groups.
Growing micro-algae for food does not interfere with land use or the production of food. Whether micro-algae is produced in photo bio-reactors, ponds or basins it will not decrease food production, It could in actual fact contribute to increasing food production if the left over biomass (after oil extraction) can be utilised as fertilizer or animal feed.
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Kisumu-Kenya
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
June 1, 2011
Greenhouse gas emissions have never been so high as in the past 2 years claims the International Energy Agency (IEA). The economic recession was thought to slow emissions down; instead it has done the contrary.
30.6 Gt of CO2 were emitted into the atmosphere last year, a rise of 1.6 Gt from 2009 data, and an increase of over 5% in two years. This was mainly from fossil fuels and if we continue emitting at this rate by 2020 we will be emitting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than initially predicted.
Of the new power plants being built about 80% of them will be running on fossil fuels by 2020, increasing the amount of emission to even higher than predicted levels.
The main concern is the increase in the mean surface temperature which was predicted to increase by 2 degrees if CO2 emissions did not fall. ‘It is becoming extremely challenging to remain below 2 degrees. The prospect is getting bleaker….” says Fatih Birol, chief economist of the IEA.
A small increase of 2 degrees on the world’s mean surface temperature will amongst other things; disturb agriculture, melt icecaps, rise sea level and cause displacement of people which will lead to wars. The Earth will suffocate
I will not stop saying this – let’s do something about it! The technologies are there to invest in Renewable Energy – wind, solar, biomass, wave power, tidal power etc.
I coin this term now – LET’S MITIGATE OR SUFFOCATE pass it on
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Kisumu-Kenya
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
May 14, 2011
A major highway from Nairobi to Thika (approximately 50km) is being built by China’s Wu Yi Company, Sinohydro Corporation Ltd and Shengli Engineering Construction. This highway is to join the two cities of Nairobi and Thika, north of Nairobi.
An article on the Daily Nation on Thursday 12 May, 2011 claims that there will be delays on the completion of the highway which had an expected completion date of February 2012. It is the increase in fuel prices that is being blamed for the delays in completing the highway which is expected to ease traffic in the congested city.
The KSh27 Billion Highway will cost the government even more claims the Roads Permanent Secretary Mr. Michael Kamau due to structural delays, and due to the increase in fuel prices. “If this project is delayed and the fuel prices continue behaving the way they are doing, then we have serious challenges on the amount of money we are going to pay on the variation on price,”
Surely in a country with over 160,000km of roads (paved and unpaved) and so highly dependent on oil imports (over 80,000 bbl/day – 2007 est)[1] this should’ve been foreseen and budgeted, before construction of the highway even began.
So why suddenly is the increase in fuel prices being blamed for the delays and for the increase in cost? Is this simply and excuse for the delay?
Perhaps its time Kenya looks at fuel alternatives. It has an enormous potential to produce its own fuel through the growth and production of algae oil by using photo bio-reactors. Not only will the algae absorb and store CO2 (carbon dioxide) in its cell as it grows[2] which will contribute to mitigating climate change, but it will also make Kenya free of oil imports. Micro-algae require sunshine, CO2 , and waste water to grow and thrive, Kenya has an abundance of all these ingredients.
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Kisumu-Kenya
[1] www.cia.org
[2] 1 tonne of algae can store up to 2 tonnes of CO2
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
June 6, 2010
AQUATIC BIOFUELS – New Options for Bioenergy
Copies of my Dissertation can be purchased through dissertation.com for $US 17 by clicking either the image on the left or the link above.
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Rome-Italy
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
March 17, 2010
Join the worlds leading experts in algae fuel production and learn the latest on the technologies, by attending the Algae World Summit 2010. The event will take place at the:
Hilton Del Mar, 15575 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar, CA 92014-1901,
Tel: (898) 792-5200
May 17, 2010 – May 19, 2010.
The event will highlight some key issues like;
- co-product algae purchasers
- oil and chemical companies
- utilities
- industrial CO2 generators
- wastewater treatment operators
- algae technology developers
- algae equipment suppliers
- algae project developers
- biofuels refiners
- financiers
- transportation companies
- and government representatives
Click here for more details
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Rome-Italy
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
January 18, 2010
An energy company in Lousiana, USA, called “Aquatic Energy” is making progress in the production of algae oil from micro-algae in open pond systems. The company which formerly had less than a hectare, will slowely expand into a 12 hectare demonstration project plant, which will yield about 9500 litres per hectare (approx. 4000 squared metres).
Interestingly enough more than 70% of the CO2 comes from the atmosphere and the remaining 30% is being generated from the natural gas burned in the algae plant itself (used for drying the algae). Clay soils are used as opposed to lining which makes the ponds less expensive and easier to maintain.
Mr. David Johnston the CEO of Aquatic Energy chose the location of Louisiana due to the fact that rainfall exceeds evaporation rate, giving him free access to water resources, on top of that the former rice cultivation plants which have the clay soil base are suitable for the algae growth.
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Rome-Italy
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
September 18, 2009
Dr. Gyungsoo Kim, CEO of Biolsystems Co Ltd (Seoul) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Governor of Bohol (Philippines) Erico Aumentado regarding a bioethanol project.
Accoding to the the MoU, the province of Bohol would give Biolsystems Co Ltd:
- 3 ha of land for aquaculture testing
- 500 ha to seedling plantations and at least
- 25,000-100,000 ha to aquaculture property.
Biolsystems Co Ltd would be given this over a 50 year period which may then extend for a further 25 years.
The aquaculture plantation will be more of a community than an aquaculture farm and 60 ha of the total land will be made available for housing, the farm will also provide over 300 jobs for ethanol extraction with a total investment of US $100 million. Training will also be provided to locals to increase awareness and to teach the techniques of farming and drying of algae.
Tony Piccolo – Aquatic Biofuels Specialist, Rome-Italy
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Posted by Tony Piccolo - Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
Spirulina is the most nutritious food on the planet. It is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals in an easily digestible form – which makes it incredibly good for the body. It is a food supplement that can be used by anybody at anytime. Amongst other things it is very good for people infected with the HIV virus, the malnourished, anaemic, diabetic, etc. It is very good for the elderly as it is for children. It has particular benefits for athletes and gym goers
Aquatic Biofuel Specialist
