By September, ONAS will receive the first Omni-Processor, a mobile mini-plant generating power from fecal sludge. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has decided to donate it the first prototype ready for operation.

Therefore Senegal will be the first Sub-Saharan African country to have this new technology, which reduces the time to treat fecal sludge, whether it is mixed with solid waste or not, and gives a market value to its sub-products.

“We will soon test a latest-generation, smaller device, which will generate, from our sludge and even solid waste, about 1,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year for a daily operation of 22 h, hot water, and ash, which can be used as fertilizer for farming or in manufacturing bricks for building construction,” said Director General Alioune Badara Diop.

This tool developed by Janicki Industries, under the umbrella of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, costs about FCFA500 million and has the capacity to treat more than 450 cubic meters of sludge per day, which equals to the cumulative nominal capacity of the three fecal sludge treatment plants in Camberene, Niayes, and Rufisque, which have respective capacities of 120 cubic meters, 60 cubic meters, and 60 cubic meters per day.

Another comparative advantage is the elimination of pathogens.

When operating in full capacity, “the Omni-Processor” consumes 7 metric tons of dry matter per day, equivalent to 450 m3 of raw sludge. It provides at the same time a net power of 125 KW of electricity, with an annual output of 1,000 MWh of electricity, for 8,000 operating hours per year.

The acquisition of this unit will boost the recovery of by-products, with the possibility to serve other purposes, including energy generation, that could generate about FCFA75 million per year.