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Pitch

Sandy Deserts treated with Liquid NanoClay (LNC), retains water and fertilizer, resulting in the same yield as in good USA farm soil.


Description

Summary

This is a new cornerstone technology.

The ability to convert sandy deserts into fertile farmland opens new doors:

By adding a desalination plant and a bio-refinery in the desert, you will have access to water, power (biodiesel) and food where there previously only were sand and saltwater.

How do we make this possible?
Liquid NanoClay (LNC) is created when irrigation water and clay are mixed in a patented process. 

The mixing is done on site and the LNC is spread onto sandy soil using traditional irrigation systems like sprinklers or water wagons. The soil is irrigated until the mix has saturated down to root depth, a process that normally takes 7 hours.

The LNC treatment gives sand particles a nanostructured clay coating. The treatment completely changes the physical qualities of the sand particles, allowing them to bind water. This changes sandy soil of poor quality into a high yield soil of good quality. Appropriate fertilizers must be applied. 


What actions do you propose?

Phase 1 Feasibility – 10 acre:

The point is to test the soil and the chosen plants (50% of each of Moringa Olifera and Anroundo Donax) in a test area equipped like the main project site, including a rainwater pond (5000 m3) in order to reuse the rain water. Soil conditions are measured every 10, 20 - 100 cm's dept in order to follow to water ways. Estimated time till it is in normal operation ~2 months. 

Phase 2: Farming 12000 hectare:

LNC is patented mechanically treated minerals. After the treatment there is an excellent water adsorption surface on all the sand grains.

In coastal areas there is a much higher humidity, than at the research station in Egypt where our "minute by minute measurements" were taken from. Demonstrating that there is a better climate for condensation in coastal areas is essential.

Goal: To create physical and biological soil conditions that optimize water infiltration, while having robust and stable nutrient cycling and sustainable plant and soil microbial communities. 

Description: Soil is the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems. Soil functions include nutrient cycling, water storage, water infiltration, plant support, microbial activity, and erosion resistance. Soil physical and biological conditions are the primary determinates of how erosion-resistant a site is.

Maximizing soil function on disturbed sites is done by: • Soil assessment to determine soil density, soil nutrient content, and nutrient cycling potential; • Soil amendment (organic matter) addition where suggested by soil samples; and • Soil loosening where density/compaction is high and/or where organic matter is to be incorporated into the soil profile.

Bio-refinery outcome: 

  • Irrigation is only required till the plant's roots are 20 to 30 cm down into the soil.
  • Increased yield – for wheat 4 to 6 times.
  • A bio refinery producing 106 Million Litre/year of high cost and attractive jet fuel; giving a high revenue of 3 Usd/litre included an efficient production of irrigation water from seawater with a low CAPEX of 1260 Usd/m3 per day in 300 m3 steps. By producing as much irrigation water (from seawater with a CAPEX of 192 million Usd) as possible and growing high revenue corps (as Moringa 3 tons bio-oil per hectare, this can give an additional revenue of 228 million Usd/year).


Who will take these actions?

Field demonstration can be done on any sandy soil, either by farmers or by a University (sponsored by the private sector or by the government), for the purpose of a 3 party verification. 

This can be done anywhere there is a development project in a sandy area.


Where will these actions be taken?


How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?

Liquid NanoClay helps fight climate changeConverting bare sandy soils to green plant covered land lowers the surface temperature around 15°C. This has a cooling effect of 320 – 360 MW/km2.

Changing desert to the green land also reduces CO2 emissions by between 15 – 25 tons/hectare. When using LNC it is possible to cultivate between double to three times as much land using the same amount of water.
 


What are other key benefits?

Properly designed irrigation systems will lower the necessary irrigation pump capacity to 17% with an accumulation pond of 31% of the size of normal irrigation systems for fields untreated with LNC.

This opens the possibility to build a bio-refinery that fuels a reverse osmosis plant, which feeds water to fields treated with LNC, where feed-stock for the bio-refinery is grown. This was not sustainable in the past, but with LNC, the water needed for irrigation is well within sustainable levels, making this a profitable business model, where large amounts of “excess” bio-fuel and water would be products that can be sold.

Deserts are increasing in size and in bordering regions, sand storms are an increasing problem. Vegetating deserts effectively combats the problem.

Using LNC to cultivate deserts into fertile soil, will allow plants to grow, which binds the top soil and stopping the spread of deserts and by cultivating plants and trees the problem with sandstorms will be eliminated.


What are the proposal’s costs?


Time line


Related proposals


References