Mozambique is taking a significant step towards environmental preservation with the project to build two ecological charcoal factories in the central and southern areas of the country. This initiative, announced this Tuesday (22) by the newspaper Notícias, aims to reduce pressure on forest resources and reduce urban waste, especially in large cities.
Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) and a Mozambican company, with funding from the International Labor Organization (ILO), plan to set up two wood fuel factories in the short term. These plants will be located in strategic regions of the country, with the aim of promoting the sustainable use of resources and offering an ecological alternative to traditional coal.
Currently, the consortium is operating in the pilot phase with small-scale facilities in the city of Maputo. At these facilities, 500 briquettes are produced every day, which meet the demand for charcoal from the capital’s bakeries. Researcher Adolfo Condo, from UEM’s Faculty of Engineering, explained that the project aims not only to produce charcoal on a large scale, but also to disseminate renewable energy technologies and combat climate change.
“With the financial and technological support of the ILO, we will have a factory in the center of the country, chosen because of the abundance of raw material from wood sawmilling, which has until now been wasted. In the south, specifically in the city of Maputo, there will be another center responsible for processing a large amount of waste collected by the Municipal Council,” said Condo.
The project not only aims to create new job opportunities by absorbing local labor, but also involves engineering students in internships and research at the plants. “The waste pickers will be responsible for supplying the factories with different types of waste, while the students will have the task of improving and adjusting the chemical formulas for producing the fuel,” added the researcher.
The briquette produced will be an economical, high-performance alternative to common wood fuels, with reduced production and marketing costs. Made from recycled materials such as corn straw, coconut shells, sawdust and sugar cane bagasse, the briquette is described as 100% ecological and environmentally friendly.
