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By Ikhili ebalu, Benin City.
Vice Chancellor, University of Benin (UNIBEN),Prof. Lilian Salami, on Tuesday restated her commitment in ensuring that the institution remains a potential hub for environmental research and sustainability.
Salami, made the disclosure during the official commissioning of the ACTUATE Biodigester Site, a project funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF -EPSRC ), and the Global Research Translation Award (GRTA) .
In his remarks, the ACTUATE Team Lead, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye informed the Vice Chancellor and her Management Team that the ACTUATE Project is a translation of the RECIRCULATE Project which is also funded by the GCRF and which has Lancaster University, UK, Lancaster University, Ghana and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana as partners.
He also explained that the success of the RECIRCULATE Project led to the translation award as the RECIRCULATE Project provided the platform to develop the biogas technology in the laboratory while the ACTUATE Project represented the actual deployment of the technology in the field.
While taking the Vice Chancellor and the Management Team on a guided tour of the facility, Prof. Ezemonye explained how waste, particularly cattle rumen, is used to produce biogas through the anaerobic digestion process and how the biogas is converted to electricity which powers the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation (CGE-Nigeria) Building for about seven hours daily.
The Vice Chancellor who commended Prof. Ezemonye and his team for achieving the project objectives, was accompanied to the event by Principal Officers of the University namely: Professor (Mrs) Adesuwa Itohan Osahon, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administartion); Professor David Nosakhare Izekor, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) and Dr. Victor Imagbe, the University Bursar. Some UNIBEN ACTUATE partners also attended the occasion.
The Vice Chancellor and the Management Team also received complimentary packs of the digestate, which is a by-product of the anaerobic digestion process, produced by the UNIBEN ACTUATE Team.
Highpoint of the occasion was a practical demonstration of the use of biogas produced at the site to run a 6.5KVA generator.
