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BioStrive

New Business Venture Project

Authors: Leigh Barrow, Srikesh Ramdari, Tayla Gordon, Mpumelelo Mhlongo, Alex Bada de Cominges and James Robinson

Executive Summary for BioStrive

BioStrive is a private company which imports household scale biodigesters with the intent of selling the biodigesters to people in rural communities that do not have access to electricity in order to improve the client’s quality of life.

 

Description of Business Idea

Biostrive will import the biodigester from an Australian biodigester manufacturer and will store the purchased biodigesters in a warehouse. Once payment from the client is received, the product will be transported to the client’s residence or specified location. The product shall then be installed and the client will be shown as to how to operate the product.

 

Marketing Strategy

BioStrive’s target market is on rural household without access to sources of energy. Outreach to the potential clients will be done by executing a three step marketing strategy. These steps are as follows:

  • REACH: Biostrive shall endeavour to attract the target market by means of promoting the product by providing free biodigester to the most influential  people of the community. This will alleviate the stigma associated with biodigesters and by ‘word-of-mouth’ shall persuade potential clients.

  • TEACH: BioStrive shall also educate the community on the operations of the biodigester and ensure that the community is aware of the potential benefits that can be gained by owning a biodigester.

  • SELL: BioStrive will sell the biodigester to client. There will also be an optional instalment plan should the client not be able to afford the once-off payment.

 

 

Financial Projection

Biostrive has great potential financial success. Figure 1 shows the projected cash flow analysis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Projected Cash Flow Analysis and Discounted Cash Flow Analysis for BioStrive

 

 

As evident in Figure 1, the company has an initial investment of  R410 000. The payback period was determined to be only 2.8 years. It was also determined that the return on investment is 35.5% and an internal rate of return of 42%.

 

Future Development

BioStrive aims to expand its target market to include restaurants, hotels and eco-estates. BioStrive also aims to expand its operations throughout South Africa.

 

Justification of Business Idea

BioStrive proves to be a great solution to help improve the quality of life of the people of South Africa and provide satisfactory returns for investors.   

Please click the button below to download the excutive summary for BioSrive:

Life Cycle Inventory for Photovoltaic Power Plants in South Africa

Research Project for BSc. Cemical Engineering

Authors: Srikesh Ramdari and Mikyle Potts

Synopsis

A global shift in mind set to sustainable development coupled with increasingly stringent environmental regulations, has led to buyers and investors seeking green supply chains. South Africa is a country that relies heavily on coal for electricity generation. Therefore, it is important to track the impact made by recent investments in renewable energy, through the Renewable Energy Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). This will ensure the avoidance of any trading disadvantages.

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This report focuses on the environmental impacts, specifically the carbon footprint (CF), of 18 utility scale photovoltaic (PV) plants in bid windows 1 and 2 of the REIPPPP. A life cycle assessment (LCA) is commonly used to model environmental impacts. However, Ecoinvent, the most comprehensive database available lacks the data needed for the LCA on utility scale PV. Therefore, the objectives that must be completed to determine the environmental impact of utility scale PV are as follows:

  • Develop a life cycle inventory database for utility scale PV plants

  • Determine the carbon footprint of a utility scale PV plant in South Africa

  • Identify other significant impact categories in the life cycle of utility scale PV

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By means of literature review, it was found that the solar grade silicon wafer production process is the most carbon intensive stage in the PV life cycle, followed by the PV module assembly and construction. It was found that the CF range is between 23 – 44 gCO2eq/kWh. The mean degradation rate of PV modules was found to be approximately 0.8 %/year.

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Four hypotheses, derived from the literature review, were tested in order to meet the objectives. The first three hypotheses focused on the effect of the module assembly, transport and solar resources in South Africa, on the carbon footprint of PV. The final hypothesis focused on the other impact categories associated with utility scale PV.

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The LCA adopted a cradle to gate approach, including all the stages from the extraction of raw materials up to, but excluding the operation of the plant. It also excluded all end of life stages. The base case used a lifetime of 30 years for a PV plant.

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From the LCA, it was found that the calculated weighted average carbon footprint attained was 30.0 gCO2eq/kWh. The contribution of transport was equivalent to 1.37% of the CF with an additional 1.8% being contributed when the elevation of the construction site is taken into consideration.

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An impact assessment was conducted of which it was found that freshwater eutrophication, human toxicity and metal depletion were the largest impact categories. This being primarily due to mining and refining of silicon and other metals.

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Please click on the button below to download the full report:

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Sodium Sulphite Recovery

Design and Feasibility Project for BSc. Cemical Engineering

Author: Srikesh Ramdari 

Summary

Background

This report details the investigation into the design of the sodium sulphite recovery area (Area 6) for the proposed expansion of the Anglo American Platinum, Rustenburg Base Metal Refinery. This section of the plant does not only serve as a sodium sulphite (Na2SO3­ recovery facility but also ensures that the stream being sent to copper electro winning has less than 10mg/l H2SeO4.

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Design objectives

The objectives of the report are therefore to:

  • Obtain the optimum design of the stripping and scrubbing units.

  • Determine the achievable recovery for the area.

  • Quantify how much fresh Na2SO3 is required for Area 3’s feed stream.

  • Determine the quantity of air required for the stripping unit.

  • Determine the NaOH requirements for the scrubbing unit.

 

Exit Stream Specifications

  • 0 g/l of Cu2SO4 in solution

  • 10 mg/l of Se in solution 

  • 0 % precipitated copper

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Conclusions and recommendations

The process that was investigated was able to meet the specifications that was set out. This includes meeting the electro winning stream requirements of less than 10 ppm Se.

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The most sensitive variables of the system are the feed temperature and the air flow rate to the stripper. The scrubber has shown not to be sensitive to temperature, however there has to be at least a stoichiometric feed of NaOH to the scrubber.

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The optimum overall recovery of Na2SO3 was found to be 96.1%. However, Area 3 requires an additional 2459kg/hr of fresh Na2SO3 feed. The optimum feed rate of air to the stripper was 11 580 kg/hr, while the optimum feed of NaOH solution to the scrubber was found to be 580 kg/hr.

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The major safety concern of Area 6 is the release of the SO2 that is formed. Therefore, an effective control system was developed to minimise the probability of such an event occurring.

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