Schoolgirls make generators that run on urine

Four Nigerian girls surprised many by introducing a urine-powered generator in Lagos, South Nigeria.

Three of the four female students next to the urine generator - (Photo: Daily Mail)

Four girls including Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin (14 years old) and Bello Eniola (15 years old) attracted the attention of the community when introducing their unique product at the Maker Faire Africa. Estimated, with 1 liter of urine, the machine achieves 6 hours of electricity generation.

Maker Faire Africa is a place where people introduce practical, innovative inventions. Maker Faire Africa's blog page describes the operation process of the machine as follows: urine is put into an electrolyte to separate hydrogen gas. Next, hydrogen passes through a filter to clean and is transferred to a cylinder containing liquid borax. Here, hydrogen gas will be removed moisture to become pure hydrogen (flammable) used to run generators.

Urine generator - (Photo: Makerfaireafrica.com)

Many comments on Maker Faire Africa's blog worry that the device will be more likely to explode than generate electricity. However, there are also some encouraging ideas and encourages the creative spirit of female students.

Currently half of Nigeria's population suffers from electricity shortages, the government has encouraged the privatization of electricity supply as well as refurbishment and modification of electrical equipment. Perhaps this is the reason why female students make this interesting generator.