Online Reporter
George Maponga in Masvingo
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the planet in 2019 like the Biblical plague, Simbarashe Chirambadare never imagined the advent of the deadly novel virus would change his life.
Simbarashe, a Form 4 dropout at Rumhizha Secondary School who failed to sit for his final Ordinary Level examinations owing to lack of fees, never thought for a single day that the pandemic would be a blessing in disguise.
The lanky and dark-skinned Simbarashe was to take advantage of the isolation regime that obtained under the ensuing lockdown to conceive a project that has now propelled him to the cusp of greatness.
One day in 2019, reeling and lonely because of the strict lockdown, the unassuming father of 2 was visited by the idea of making fuel from plastic material.
The then 27-year-old Simbarashe was to embark on a journey that would make him a local hero in his home village of Mugabe under Chief Chikwanda in Masvingo North.
From his humble dwellings in Mugabe village about 900 metres from Roy Business Centre close to the Masvingo-Mutare highway, Simbarashe is daring to dream.
The third born in a family of six dreams that one day he will run a company that manufactures fuel such as diesel, petrol, paraffin and even Jet A1 fuel that powers all kinds of commercial aircraft that zoom across the skies.
“It was in 2019 when I was setting a fire here at home using plastic paper that I was instantly struck by an idea that I could use plastic to make fuel that runs engines,” he said.
“The restrictions in movement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic were taking their toll on me and was always at home and that allowed me to think about using plastics to make fuel.
“I was really left spellbound by the huge flame that was created after I threw plastic into the fire and I realised there was some magic fuel in plastic.”
Simbarashe was not new to innovation and employing locally available resources to make life easy for his family as he had also toyed with the idea of generating electricity to light up the Chirambadare homestead near Roy.
“Before thinking about venturing into fuel-making from plastic waste, I first tried to generate electricity using all sorts of waste and scrap equipment I could lay my hands on.
“I was happy that I succeeded and lit our homestead for some time but I did not really find the project satisfying and as a result I abandoned it,” said Simbarashe.
When he experimented with the idea of making fuel from plastic waste, Simbarashe says he was elated with the results that came out.
“I built a furnace using farm bricks and dagga and set up a reactor that I made using scrap metal and it is inside the reactor where I put plastic waste which I heat up to temperatures of around 500 degrees until the plastic becomes molten.”
All kinds of plastic including plastic paper bags and containers can fed into the reactor to liquefy with heat until they turn into molten plastic and gas.
“The opening into the reactor is tightly closed with a metal cap that has a gasket and is screwed tightly to make sure air does not go in or out.
“The gas that forms inside escapes through a catalyst tower from where it moves via a trace pipe where it is cooled by condenser,” he says.
According to Simbarashe when the gas from the catalyst tower is cooled it liquifies into crude oil and the light gas that forms alongside the crude is conveyed by another trace pipe into a second receiver where it is liquified into petrol.
The third and final receiver will be residual crude oil and gas which if cooled produces paraffin.
“The residual crude oil that remains after getting petrol and paraffin is put into the reactor again and the process is restarted if we want to produce diesel using plastic waste,” Simbarashe says.
He revealed that for his plant which he calls a “fuel distillation plant”, used oil can also be a raw material in producing diesel, petrol and paraffin.
“When it comes to producing fuel with used oil, I first heat the used oil in the reactor and the resultant gas goes through a similar process,” he says.
“ This time in the first receiver we get diesel, then petrol in the second receiver and lastly paraffin in the last receiver.”
Simbarashe is also aware of the threat of his plant polluting the environment and his plant recycles all the by-products.
“We don’t pollute the environment, our plant is environment-friendly,” says Simbarashe.
“After we produce diesel, petrol and paraffin the residue gas that remains is conveyed fire a pipe back into the furnace for heating. The residue gas that remains is one that continues to power the reactor such that there will be no need for more firewood to provide heat in the furnace.
“The plant produces its own energy and even in situations where used oil would be the raw material instead of plastic.
“When used oil is heated in the furnace at very high temperatures to produce gas, a hard solid cake that is black in colour remains inside as residue and this can again be used as “coal” to fire the furnace.
Simbarashe says he was even once approached by officials from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) who wanted to know if he was not polluting the environment.
“Officials from EMA came here and when they eventually left they had been satisfied by my project and they even lauded me for developing a plant that is environmentally- friendly and contributing to the war against the proliferation of non bio-degradable materials.”
He says he plans to patent his fuel manufacturing idea and end Zimbabwe’s dependency on imported fuel.
“ I hope that one day I will patent my invention and my method of making fuel will be registered as my idea so that others don’t reap where they did no sow,” said Simbarashe.
“I want to produce enough fuel to meet demand locally here in Masvingo and the nation at large.”
Simbarashe says he uses his own diesel to run his grinding meal and earn money to look after his children and wife.
“I realised that with my own diesel, my grinding mill can produce 20 buckets of mealie-meal using 11 litres of diesel but when I used diesel from the pump, I need 14 litres for the same amount of mealie-meal.”
According to Simbarashe, even local farmers in the Mugabe area now rely on his diesel to fuel their tractors.
“Farmers from neighbouring farms here in Chikwanda are always pestering me asking me to sell them the diesel I produce so that they can fuel their tractors,” he says.
“I have only given them the diesel to prove the efficacy of my fuel but as of now, I cannot sell them my product because I am not yet licensed to sell by authorities. Of course, to run my grinding mill I no longer worry about my fuel bill because I make the diesel myself.”
He appealed to the Government and well-wishers to assist him import big machinery required to produce up to 5000 litres of diesel per day.
“I can produce a lot of fuel and contribute to a clean and plastic-free environment if I can get assistance to import machinery to build a bigger plant that can even produce thousands of litres of diesel daily.
“This will end fuel imports in Zimbabwe because I have always believed that as a country, Zimbabwe has all that it needs from material to human resources to become a self-reliant, prosperous and empowered society,” added Simbarashe.
The self-made scientist, who was born in Mabheure village under Chief Makore in Gutu says he needs a capital injection of U$500 000.
“I am receiving lots of phone calls from people who want to partner with me or assist me in my fuel-making project while others offer plastics but lack of capital is a problem because I need to build a bigger plant.”
Simbarashe says he will not disclose- for now – the ingredients he uses to make different kinds of fuel from his plant and even to eliminate the dark colour from the crude oil.
“That is where the secret to my invention lies so I will not reveal how I even remove the foul odour from my fuel, I however, want to reveal that I use home materials for all this,” said Simbarashe.
Simbarashe which loosely means God’s power has managed to convince his parents and fellow community members alike that his project is destined to change his and the nation’s fortunes.
“I never doubted my son’s potential and capabilities because although he dropped out of school before he sat for his ‘O’ levels, he always had a strong passion to learn,”said Simbarashe’s father Mr Daniel Chirambadare.
His mother Ms Remina Chisese says she never took his son seriously when he started conjuring up inventions.
“I never took him seriously at first but I was surprised when he from nowhere lit the whole homestead with the light coming from scrap materials he was joining.
“Now I believe him because the diesel that runs his grinding mill is his own product that he makes from either plastic waste or used oil.
“He can now even look after his family from this venture.”
A youth from Roy Business Centre, Innocent Mushanyairi, says many tractor operators in the area were now using Simbarashe’s diesel.
“ Simbarashe deserves support so that he builds a bigger fuel plant and services this whole area where most tractors are now relying on his fuel.
Even the plastic waste that litters most busy places will disappear because there will be a bigger plant that requires more plastic,” he says.
Going into 2025, there is strong optimism in and around the Roy area in Chikwanda that Simbarashe, like his name, might have found the magic wand that turns plastic waste into the much-needed fuel.
