{"id":7922,"date":"2020-02-04T15:46:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T12:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=7922"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:50","slug":"chemsitry-graduate-strikes-liquid-gold-from-used-diapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2020\/02\/04\/chemsitry-graduate-strikes-liquid-gold-from-used-diapers\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemistry Graduate Strikes Liquid Gold From Used Diapers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Fresh out of college and jobless a few years ago, Dennis Wachira stumbled into a clean fuel idea in a garbage heap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He still recalls the ugly sight\nand smell of used diapers and sanitary towels strewn allover. That would turn\nout to be his light bulb moment, enabling him to see the waste in a different\nlight and proceeding to convert it to fuel for cook stoves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a Chemistry graduate from the University of Nairobi, it hit him if the components of the diapers could be chemically broken down, some sort of energy could come out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Liquid Gold :Used diapers generating affordable and clean fuel\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hG8ibHWWTg8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only would it generate affordable and cleaner fuel but it would also ease the waste menace around neighbourhoods, through recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s how Leafy Ke was born \u2013 a startup that converts used diapers and pads to a clean cooking gel as an alternative to smoke-emitting charcoal and kerosene among households in informal settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company last year emerged\nthe winner in the Climate LaunchPad (CLP) competition organised by Kenya\nClimate Innovation Center (KCIC), bagging a cash prize of $2,000 (Sh200,000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CLP competition aims to encourage\ninnovation around cleantech, providing training bootcamps and a networking\nplatform for startups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, the 26-year old Wachira alongside his co-founders Peter Gachanja, 26, and Melvin Kizito, 25, all Chemistry graduates, are in the process of scaling up their business with installation of a production line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ENH5SnGXsAEirEX.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7924\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ENH5SnGXsAEirEX.jpg 900w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ENH5SnGXsAEirEX-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ENH5SnGXsAEirEX-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ENH5SnGXsAEirEX-585x390.jpg 585w, https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ENH5SnGXsAEirEX-263x175.jpg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption>Leafy KE team receiving their award during the CLP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That would open the doors to\nlaunch of their own line of cookstoves, specifically designed for their fuel\nwhich comes in gel and cube forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt the prototype level, we made\nit easier for households to use our fuel in a normal kerosene stove. We didn\u2019t\nwant customers to incur extra costs of buying new stoves at this early stage.\nWe wanted them to continue using their stoves that they already had while using\nour fuel,\u201d Wachira said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs we seek financial line to go\nfull blown commercial, we\u2019re getting into the stage where we\u2019ll roll out our\nown custom-made stoves to increase the fuel use efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, from two diapers Leafy is able to\ngenerate a litre of the fuel gel, Wachira points out. A litre costs $1.20\n(Sh120).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To prepare rice for three people and warm\nwater, for instance, all it takes is 50 grams of the fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The innovator explains the\nwaste-to-fuel process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe get diapers and sanitary pads from garbage\ncollectors, clean them using detergent and high-pressure water, then chemically\nprocess them into a fuel gel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thereafter, they\npackage the fuel gel into small cans, which can be used to heat food during\ncatering events or placed in stoves to cook food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cOur target market comprises people who cook\nusing firewood, charcoal and kerosene. These fuels produce a lot of soot,\nsmoke, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The gel, on the other hand, doesn\u2019t\nproduce carbon monoxide and has lower emissions of carbon dioxide,\u201d said\nWachira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The zero carbon monoxide\neliminates possible deaths by suffocation inside homes with poor ventilation while\nthe very low carbon dioxide leaves homes with a\nlower carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wachira opens up that his visits to the\ncountryside also fuelled his drive to find cleaner alternative cooking fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile my grandma\u2019s meals were invariably big\nand hearty, I noticed she had to withstand a lot of smoke from biomass while\nshe prepared food in the smoky kitchen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having started out with only $30 (Sh3,000), he\nwould initially pay street kids to collect the diaper waste for him to carry\nout tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His aim is to\nprovide affordable\nclean energy to as many low income households as possible, while slashing\ncarbon emissions.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cI used to do the tests in the backyard of my\nhouse. The first time wasn\u2019t successful, neither was my second time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI had to borrow $10 (Sh1,000)\nthe third time before it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KCIC chief executive Edward Mungai encouraged more young people to be innovative, especially at a time when the country is experiencing high levels of unemployment while battling with the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read also: <a href=\"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/slum-waste-recycling-group-to-recruit-10000-youths\/\">Slum Waste Recycling Group To Recruit 10,000 Youths<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fresh out of college and jobless a few years ago, Dennis Wachira stumbled into a clean fuel idea in a garbage heap. He still recalls the ugly sight and smell&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[379,892,949],"class_list":["post-7922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-responsibility","tag-climate-launchpad","tag-kcic","tag-leafy-ke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}