Ssendikwanawa and Kyagalanyi collect super petroleum from the condenser

By John Kasozi

JAMES Ssendikwanawa sits on a clay brick pounding solid crude oil using a metallic pestle and mortar. He gazes inside the mortar to check the fineness of crushed oil. A metre away, Pastor Fred Kyagalanyi sieves the crushed crude oil through a wooden rectangular colander before putting it in the saucepan.

As Kyagalanyi stands up to scoop the oil from the saucepan, they acknowledge my presence and immediately beacon me to follow them.
I stand still, gazing at the two young men who recycle waste plastics, polythene bags and discarded women’s synthetic hair into petroleum. “This is where our oil refinery plant begins,” they point at the sheltered gazetted waste collection and sorting area.

The men pick up bottles and polythene paper. We then move down to the kiln section where they throw the waste.
According to Kyagalanyi, the kiln takes in between 300kg to 500kg of waste which is smoldered for six hours.

Phase One
“In first phase, biodegradable wastes like food peels, jack fruit, water melon, pineapple and mango are sorted out to make fertilisers. But we are building a biogas plant that is going to make use of them,” explains Kyagalanyi.
As Ssendikwanawa rotates the burning waste in the kiln, he explains why they burn the waste for six hours and another five to six hours is for solidification before they are later pounded.

About 3.3kg of the burnt waste make up 1kg of solid crude oil.

“Later, the crushed crude oil is put in a jerrycan to create a temperature between 30oC to 35oC and pressure of 15mm (hg). They then inject in a catalyser to speed up the reaction process,” he says.
The catalyst helps turn the solid matter into liquid crude oil within 10 to 15 minutes making the smell evident. But the liquid takes 12 hours to reach maturity. One kilogramme of crushed solid crude fuel produces three litres of liquid crude fuel.

Phase two
As we move to the squeezer section to put in the synthetic bag containing the liquid crude oil, Kyagalanyi says: “phase two begins; when water is separated from the liquidified crude oil.”

The squeezed liquid fuel is then directed to the digester where it is heated by passing it through a pipe that passes through a steam chamber.
This is the distillation stage. It separates petroleum into three grades; pure (clear/colourless), super (greenish and yellowish colour) and premium petroleum (reddish).
Pure petroleum is separated between 30oC to 45oC, while super petroleum is 40oC to 60oC and premium petroleum from 60oC to 80oC.
During the process of distillation a litre produces 30% of each three grades of petroleum and the remainder 10% is liquidified residue.

The stove has three segments. The top segment holds water that is heated to make steam, the middle is a fire place and the lower a combustion cradle that holds charcoal that fires the middle part.

Kyagalanyi says the fuel in the vapour form leaves the digester and is directed to the condenser for liquidification. “We designed the condenser with all the necessary basics, including electronic devices for air circulation, to carry out condensation. The condenser has three outlets for petroleum grades.”

“Diesel and kerosene fuels are made using the ordinary charcoal dust finely crushed. We then mix the dust with a chemical called separator (B82) and put it in the microwave system for six to 10 hours before embarking on the second stage similar to petroleum,” they explain.

Background
The two men, both co-directors, conceived the idea of producing fuel four years ago. Before that Kyagalanyi worked in Germany for four years.
“I came back to Uganda with the diesel literature to guide me. My partner Ssendikwanawa, had already researched information on how to make petroleum for the last 18 years,” recalls Kyagalanyi.

“Using these guidelines, we came up with technical ideas on how to produce petroleum. Our first petroleum came out in form of milk fuel,” he says.
“We did not give up but continued researching and doing experiments to get what we wanted. It was not until early 2009 that we made a breakthrough.”

“Thereafter, we developed a better fuel refinery plant and registered our company,” one of them explains.
“From the studies we have carried out, it is cost-effective for us to produce petroleum. If we were to put our grades on the market, we would sell premium at sh2,000, super at sh4,000 and pure at sh5,000 per litre. But with a bigger and better refinery plant, the prices would be even much lower,” Kyagalanyi says.
He insists that the petroleum they produce is of high quality. “One litre of any of the grades goes an extra distance because it is very fine. We have done experiments. It is not hearsay.”

They say their plant can make 100 litres per day. “But our target is 10,000 litres per day with a minimum of 300 skilled and non-skilled workers.”

They plan to set up a bigger refinery and a new kiln to avoid pollution.
“This plant has been built with our sweat. We have actually spent over sh100m in the last four years.”
The two say they are motivated by the desire to come up with a solution to the country’s fuel problem and cleaning up of the environment.

Pure petroleum is used to power small planes and to clean up the internal part of automobile engine to remove coagulation. You do not need to dismantle the engine. If you find it expensive to buy pure grade to clean your engine, you can mix one-litre of pure petroleum with 20-litres of premium petroleum to help you clean up.

Super petroleum is used to power armed trucks like tanks, armed personal carriers and other expensive cars like Mercedes Benz and also has the ability to clean the engine.

Premium petroleum is the ordinary fuel mainly used by most automobiles like taxis in Uganda. It is the grade most Ugandans know, the one responsible for the smoke and dirt emitted by automobile.

Electricity generation
Ssendikwanawa recalls that their first project was to generate biogas but they ended up tapping direct current from the top of a covered old pit latrine dam that is shared by the condenser and to the battery.

Human faecal matter generates sulphuric acid similar to that used in batteries to make power, unlike animals that produce hydrogen sulphide. A human being feeds on many types of food which gives him an added advantage over animals to produce sulphuric acids.

Sulphuric acid is a strong mineral acid. It is soluble in water at all levels of concentration. Sulfuric acid has many applications and is one of the top products of the chemical industry.

Its principal uses include lead-acid batteries for cars and other vehicles, ore processing, fertilizer manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater processing and chemical synthesis.

Kyagalanyi says in a radius of five metres from the closed pit dam they are able to tap sulphuric acid. “A toilet dam acts as a battery but it has to have three terminals a negative, positive and earth.”

“Our power can drive most domestic appliances except the flat iron. However, we have designed flat irons that use 120 watts. We have been using lat-power for the last three years,” they said.
“Our next plan is to make electricity from water waves and swirls on Lake Victoria including wind on Bbuusi Island. We have already done experiments and evaluated the energy potential,” said Kyagalanyi.

Apart from energy, the two men say they have come up with technology that will counter waves on the lakes to save boats from capsizing. They will make floaters to be put on the sides of the boats to deter water strong waves from hitting the boats.

Kyagalanyi says he attended St. Francis Senior Secondary in Mengo, while Ssendikwanawa attended Aggrey Memorial School.

Ssendikwanawa recalls that he spent most of his secondary school carrying out experiments in the science laboratory, which he did as a hobby.