Four Nigerian teenage girls invent urine-powered generator
The girls, Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin and Bello Eniola, displayed the invention at the annual Maker Faire Africa, held in Lagos
Four Nigerian teenage girls have invented a generator powered by urine that can use a litre of urine to produce six hours of electricity.
The girls, Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin, and Bello Eniola, displayed the invention at the annual Maker Faire Africa, held in Lagos.
According to the girls, the premise of their invention was that if hydrogen was the raw material in their generator, the end product would be water. The team said that after they experimented with water, they encountered a hurdle.
The team revealed that because water produces low hydrogen, they concluded that if they electrolysed water, the generator would lose 1.25 volts per cycle.
Adebola said she suggested to the team that they experiment with a material that costs nothing but will generate the power needed to run domestic activity. It was at this point that the team considered the idea of using urine as the source of raw materials.
Adebola mentioned that they initially built a system consisting of an electrolytic cell, which consisted of an old car battery. The system also had filters and pipes, as well as an empty gas storage tank.
“We then reconfigured our petrol-based generator and carried out our first experiment, and then we faced another huge challenge as the cell exploded,” the girls said.
“We kept on checking our process and setup until Mr. Lawal pointed out our error: the hydrogen-oxygen gas mixture was returning to the cell. We then inserted one-way valves into the pipes to ensure a one-directional flow of the gas mixture, and it worked,” they added.
The Fantastic Four said when they first exhibited their invention publicly, people did not have hope it would work. But they remained determined and made improvements to it. They gained national attention when they exhibited their invention once again at Maker Faire Africa in 2012.
Since the exhibition, the Fantastic Four have earned both national and international awards for their urine-powered generators. The Lagos State government also expressed the desire to fund the invention to be developed on a large scale for it to be used in homes.
The teen girls expressed their gratitude to their school, Doregos Private Academy, stating that they provided the funding, transportation, and moral support for them to pursue the dream.
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