dyton mupawaenda
ZIMBABWE can find its own solutions for many challenges and does not have to rely on being spoon-fed by outsiders who may not know the conditions or how we look at costing when there are imports.
An example now in progress is the use of coal tar, a waste product from the vast expansion of coking operations at Hwange and chrysotile fibre, as the basis for the binder and seal on roads to replace bitumen which is imported at higher price.
Coal tar was commonly used in some countries at one stage, but was replaced by bitumen for a number of reasons.
The first was that unless there was some processing, the tar gave off polluting emissions and could be soft in higher day temperatures.
The Zimbabwe research has found cost-effective processes that eliminate the toxic emissions and keep the tar stable up to 90 degrees Celcius.
The other reason for the emphasis on bitumen was the cost.
At one stage, oil refineries even gave bitumen away to get rid of it, then started charging low prices, and then, in the past 25 years, pushing up the price more than four-fold until it became the most expensive input on a surfaced road.
This allowed a new look at coal tar in Zimbabwe, with the costs of processing factored in, and still the product is a lot cheaper than bitumen.
The processed coal tar with its chrysotile fibre addition costs US$0,70 a litre, compared to the modern price of US$2,50 a litre for bitumen.
So while the saving in foreign currency is useful, the main reason for seeking a switch is the far lower cost. That would not have been the case at the turn of the century, where coal tar was actually pricier.
The main reason from taking a relook at road surfaces was some researcher asking the right question, why had we been using bitumen for decades and yet we were now throwing coal tar away.
Just because something has always been done in a certain way does not mean it is the best way or the right way. The actual answer appears to have been interesting: the cheap petroleum substitute became the norm because it was the cheapest, and then became the most expensive material.
The cost differentials and the ready availability of coal tar because steel plants in Zimbabwe and in South Africa wanted a lot more coke meant that it would be possible to upgrade the coal tar through the correct processing and addition of a mineral binder.
Besides the lower costs, the coal tar product has tested as more resilient than the bitumen the developers hope to replace, and as less damaging to environment.
That would be another good reason for a switch, but the combination of what seems to be a better product, a cheaper product and one that is made from entirely Zimbabwean raw materials does produce a three-star winner.
The sort of sealed plant that was operating to heat up the bitumen and mix it with the aggregate to get the road surfacing material will work with the coal-tar product and aggregate.
This is important as not much extra is needed to move between products, so simplifying the process of a switchover.
The original idea for the product came from Midlands State University as part of that Education 5.0 programme in recent years of seeing a lot more practical and commercial research at State universities.
Initial results were very promising and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and the Research Council of Zimbabwe went with the idea for development.
It then moved from the laboratory to the factory with Zimchem in Redcliff taking the research results and building up the industrial process, which includes bringing down coal tar from the new coking plants of several investors in Hwange area and reclaiming chrysotile fibre from the Shabanie and Mashava mines.
We have now reached the stage when we move from laboratory and initial testing to a real road, and the Ministry has chosen the nearby Kwekwe-Gokwe Road for the major test, which will include making sure that contractors can handle the product as well as seeing how well it copes with heavy traffic.
The road is a good one to choose since the original research team and the manufacturer are just down the road, so any problems that might occur when it is used by an ordinary contractor on an ordinary road can quickly produce a team of problem solvers.
The results of the test are also important, since if we can get a lot more decent highway for every $1 million, then we can get more decent highways and can maintain and repair at lower cost, so ensuring that it is maintained and repaired.
This is how practical research should be done: finding an interesting idea, working out why we had missed doing it before, sorting out the technical solutions, getting the costing right, doing the testing at each stage of the research, scaling it up and then using the product.
We need more of these attitudes, of asking the right questions and then seeking the answers, and looking at how we can use our own resources and own raw materials to create something that is at least equivalent and hopefully better than what we have been buying.
Making far better use of our own high-level research talent is also important.
We have built up our universities and have been adding the technical departments and research workers. Getting them to look for practical solutions is important.
It also appears in this case that some of those on the operational side and the user side, at Zimchem and the Ministry, have worked with those, or been taught by those, on the research side.
In any case they were obviously working together closely now as they put everything together to get to the stage of putting the product on a road.
Online Reporter