Make it so idea - Floating Bio-digester, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia

The Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is home to communities living in floating villages on and around the lake. In monsoon season the lake expands to five times its size.

One of the environmental management issues is the lack of toilets. To address this EWB has designed a floating toilet system.

Building on this idea, a floating bio-digester will be developed to convert this waste into usable methane gas for cooking.

Five engineering students from the University of Queensland, are undertaking a research project with a real humanitarian edge. The Innovate Team, consisting of: Lx Yeow, Daniel Gillick, Thao Luu, Andy Hariyadi and Kun-Ju-Hsieh  are tackling a major issue – water sanitation and waste management in rural Cambodia. Working directly with not-for -profit organization, Live and Learn: Environmental Education, they are to improve the quality of life for Cambodians living in the Tonle Sap Lake area by constructing a bio-digester and waste storage facility.

Coordinated by Engineers Without Borders (EWB), the project is part of the Undergraduate Research Program, an initiative that connects local students and universities to partner organisations in developing countries. These research projects aim to apply technology to improve quality of life in disadvantaged areas.

One such area is the Tonle Sap Lake area in rural Cambodia. Located on the central plains of Cambodia the Tonle Sap Lake area comprises of a population of 1.5 million, the majority of whom live and work on floating barges situated on the lake itself . Being the largest and most productive inland fresh water bodies in Southeast Asia, it remains the life-blood of the community, where they fish, drink, bathe and irrigate from. With no adequate sanitation, the disposal of human waste directly into the water poses serious health problems for the community with the spread of water borne illnesses such as cholera and other pathogenic organisms leading to the premature deaths of many children in the community.

Live and Learn: Environmental Education is a not for profit organisation that aims to educate communities on the appropriate management and reduction of waste to prevent human and environmental risk . In partnership with EWB, Live and Learn, have focused on the implementation of efficient and cost effective, floating waste management systems with the hope that the instigation of such systems provides a social, environmental and economical dividends that will motivate the community to manage waste effectively.

Team Innovate are contributing to this scheme by developing a floating bio-digester. By feeding human waste into drums, bags or membranes at slightly above atmospheric pressure, the heat generated by the sun promotes the breakdown of the waste resulting in the production of methane gas and fertiliser both of which can be reused by the communities, methane as a valuable domestic energy source and fertiliser to improve the quality and yield of crops for local farmers.

"This project has the potential to directly affect the lives and well-being of people in Cambodia. Traditional research projects just can't meet this type of application.

Typical engineering projects are commercially motivated, with heavy interests on generating return. Shifting the focus towards engineering design that is community based has been an insightful and rewarding challenge." - said project Design Managers Daniel Gillick and Lx Yeow.

Working closely with Live and Learn, and EWB’s in-field staff member Robert Hughes; it is anticipated that the upon success team’s project will operate to capacity in the Tonle Sap area, by collecting waste and supplying methane gas directly to individuals in the Tonle Sap area. In future, the aim is for the technology is to be extended to other communities.

EWB’s Curriculum and Research Coordinator, Julian O’Shea, says, “It’s great to see students like those in Team Innovate, help tackle these great global challenges. Engineering has a critical role in play in improving conditions in developing communities, and projects that address issues such as waste management and sanitation are key.”

View a news article posted on the University of Queensland website: UQ’s Engineering students Make it So in Cambodia