Meet the first girls who invented urine-powered generators in Nigeria
They were teenage girls at the time they conceptualised the idea to generate power for domestic purposes using urine.
Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin, and Bello Eniola, who were students of the Doregos Private Academy in Nigeria at the ages of 14, 14, 14, and 15 respectively invented a urine-powered generator that produces about six hours of electricity with a litre of collected urine.
The girls who called themselves the “Fantastic Four” were the first to practicalise the impressive idea, thereby providing a working alternative for dealing with the country’s power crisis.
Leading energy solutions company in Nigeria, RusselSmiths indicates that a member of the group, Adebola decided to embark on the project after her attention was drawn to news about a family of five who lost their lives as a result of inhaling carbon monoxide produced by their generator during sleep.
After sharing the information with three of her friends, and with encouragement from their science teacher Olaide Lawwal, they began experimenting with alternative ways to produce power without carbon monoxide.
They investigated various materials including water but settled on urine as a better alternative considering that water produces low hydrogen and could cause a loss of 1.25 volts per cycle if electrolyzed.
First, they built a system consisting of an electrolytic cell from an old car battery, with filters, pipes, and an empty gas storage tank.
After several experiments, they succeeded.
The invention was displayed at the annual event Maker Faire Africa, Lagos, Nigeria as far back as 2012, and received recognition and commendation from national and international bodies.
Nigeria has been battling chronic power outage challenges for years. The country has a record of low generation capacity issues with power distribution issues as a result of its dilapidated grid.
