Ecological


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Whereas further testing of seed press-cake combustion effluent must be done, it appears from initial observations that it is no more harmful than charcoal effluents, and exponentially less environmentally damaging.

Ecological drivers

The production of oil from the Moringa seed generates very large quantities (5:1 kg:l ) of “seedcake” by-product. It is another outstanding feature of this plant that the waste seed-cake is itself valuable in three use scenarios:

  • As a water purification (flocculation) medium (see here)
  • As an oil rich biofuel
  • As a soil fertilizer

Fuel Source Substitution

shapeimage_2The ecological cost of wood-charcoal production and use is well known, endemic and almost impossible to eradicate. Moringa, via its oil rich seed-cake byproduct may present a sustainable solution, if brought to bear in sufficient scale.
Mixed with other byproducts, e.g. coconut husk and shell waste from the copra process, the Moringa seed-cake can be processed into a viable substitute for charcoal, burning at sustained high temperatures, due to its residual oil content.

Organic Fertilizer

shapeimage_5The seed-cake has been researched and tested as an organic fertilizer, returning phosphorus-rich nutrient to the soil as it decomposes. Again, in sufficient scale (the project will generate some 48,000 tons of seed-cake per year), this resource can readily be redistributed to its own plantation, the Out-grower community, indeed more widely, and at almost no cost to the recipient.

Moreover, it is entirely in the commercial interest of the project to dispose of this waste safely and to the benefit of its suppliers and the wider community. Thus, a self-sustaining agricultural cycle is ”built-in” to the outcomes herewith.shapeimage_6