HEESBA

Global Carbon dioxide emissions have increased 15-fold, and methane emissions will leap as Earth warms

The global plastics production has increased 1.2-fold, debris end up in the oceans, damaging the ecosystems 

Abundant waste materials in palm oil industries, and food wastes, have not been converted to value-added products

Lack of awareness on Sustainable Development Goals could hamper the creation of entrepreneurs that take cognizance of economic development with social impact and wisdom intact.

We propose :

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Bioenergy to convert biomass and effluent into bioenergy

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Biomaterials to convert biomass, food, plastic and paper wastes into carbon feedstocks

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Biochemicals to develop algae for biocompounds and aquaculture

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Education to develop waste collection and education centres

HEESBA Enterprise can be a model system for sustainable living

Global CO2 emissions from fossil-fuels have increased 15-fold from 1900s to 32000 teragrams CO2. Both CO2 and methane make up 90% of global green house gas emission, of which 34% come from agriculture, forestry and waste water. Methane is 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas. The global plastics production increases to 368 million tonnes in 2019, with 10–20 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans.

Malaysia generated 156,665 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2016, of which 48.4% was sourced from coal and coke, and 90.5% of the coal was imported. There is also a vast under-utilised biomass resource from palm oil industries. In 2017, about 51.19 million tonnes of oil palm wastes could generate 88.03 terawatt-hours electricity. The effluent released can cause considerable environmental problems if discharged without proper treatment. The food wastes produced daily in 2015 was 15,000 tonnes, and there is more than 0.94 million tonnes of mismanaged plastic wastes per year in Malaysia. In 2019, the Malaysian food import was valued at USD12.55 billion. 

Globally, cancer has become one of the major cause of death. There is a great need to make cancer treatment more affordable and readily available to the general masses.

We develop Integrated Algal and Oil Palm Biorefinery for bioenergy co-generation with environmental remediation, materials conversion, and high-value food/bioproducts and biochemicals with focus on affordable healthcare and sustainable agro-practices.

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Bioenergy

Gasification of oil palm biomass and anaerobic digestion of effluent into biomethane and biohydrogen, and carbon dioxide capture.

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Biomaterials

Pre-treatment of biomass, extraction of biopolymers, and development of biomaterials. Food waste composting and larvae cultivation for biofertilizer and aquaculture feeds

Catalytic plastic/paper conversion technology into carbon feedstocks and diesel

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Biochemicals

Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Algal cultivation on palm oil mill effluent media for high-value biochemicals, lipid nanoparticle for delivery of anticancer agents, and feeds for aquaculture.

H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A - Education

Collection centres of the biomass, food, plastic or paper wastes for conversion into value-added products, and composts.

Entrepreneurial Development Centre to train local communities, with focus on youth and womenfolk, on green income generation activities. Education Centre on Sustainable agro-practices related to crop planting, algal cultivation and aquaculture.

The Education/Training Centre's aim is to develop entrepreneurial spirit through profitability of business venture, with wisdom to execute.

The National Green Prosperity’s goal is to increase the Malaysians’ incomes based on Sustainable Economic Development strategies. The Green Prosperity district is selected based on the potential to achieve significant reductions in poverty through economic development opportunities, renewable energy potential, and mitigation of environmental impacts such as peat land degradation. The Malaysian government aims to halt the expansion of oil palm plantations to dispel the oil’s reputation in being linked to deforestation. The area to be capped is at around 6 million hectares, from 5.85 million hectares in 2018. The  government is also promoting entrepreneurship in the agribusiness sector for the youth and university graduates. 

KESEDAR is an agency under the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development which is responsible for improving the socio-economic status among the local community through several activities including the development of oil palm plantations under the Land Development Plan. The total area of oil palm plantation that has been developed and managed by KESEDAR is approximately 8,500 hectares with a yield of approximately 12,000 metric tonnes. KESEDAR has built a palm oil mill with a capacity of 30 MT/hr or 145,000 MT/year, to process the oil palm fruit produced from the plantations, and to encourage the participation of local community of approximately 170,000 people.

The palm oil mill is located in the rural area in the state of Kelantan (Jeli, Gua Musang and Kuala Kerai) where most of the villagers are either oil palm or rubber smallholders. KESEDAR Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd. (KPSB), which is located in a Land Development Scheme (RKT) KESEDAR Paloh 3, 18300, Gua Musang, Kelantan (coordinates 102.275 N, 4.99838 E) was established on 2 June 1989 with a total investment of USD4.13 million (RM16.94 million). KPSB's core activities are oil palm fruit processing plants, and commercial oil palm and plantations (oil palm, rubber and oil palm nurseries). Based on the mill capacity, a total of 585 metric tonnes/hr of crude palm oil, 24000 cubic meter/hr of POME and 6 metrics tonne/hr of biomass are produced.

The H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A solution team members come from industries, universities, and government agency in Malaysia. The companies are SIBCo and KOGEN, the universities are Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), and the agency is Fisheries Research Institute of Malaysia (FRI). H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A enterprise which is social, profit and wisdom-oriented, upholds the philosophy to strive for Health-consciousness, Environmental and Safety awareness, Energy sufficiency, Social-inclusiveness, Business acumen, and Adaptability and Agility. The H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A solution on training and extension programmes on crop diversification, soil health rehabilitation and maintenance, and aquaculture, could enhance the knowledge and skills of, especially youths and the local community, on diverse economic activities that can be developed in the oil palm plantation schemes. The social support, training benefits, effective interactions and training components must be formulated such that the planters, growers, farmers, and the communities are well informed, and are willing to participate in the recycling, composting, crop planting and aquaculture activities for additional income generation.

The collection and recycling centres with the participation of agro-industries, farmers, youths and local communities, and the use of technology of biomass conversion and composting into value-added products, could bring new green products into the market. The plastic collection centre, having the technology for the recycled plastics to be converted into new products, can reduce the plastic problem polluting the environment. Dynamic programmes on oil palm and aquaculture entrepreneurship are also aimed at reducing the rate of unemployment, draw the youths away from undesirable activities such as involvement in drugs and illegal goods trafficking, and raise the status of the agricultural sector as the potential lucrative business venture. The education and training centre established can train new entrepreneurs and business-driven personnel to strive for social development, whilst being profit-oriented, and putting wisdom as the guiding principle in any decision-making process. This is pertinent to promote Circular Economy and to achieve the philosophy of H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A Enterprise, and the 17 agenda of Global Sustainable Development Goals.

Electricity supply in all settlements in the rural area are estimated at 70% grid and 30% diesel generation. The population living on diesel generation pays considerably more for electricity, negatively impacting their monthly household income. The establishment of mini power plant to generate electricity from the organic content of wastewater and biomass at the palm oil mill is an important step in energy transition to renewable energy generation and low carbon emission. The ultimate aim from the incomes generated by the H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A Enterprise and higher level of investment later, is to go into full installation of solar panel in each household, or development of solar farm for energy-sufficient local community. Electricity generation from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), a waste that negatively impacts land and downstream activities, would provide grid-tied electricity to the nearby villages that are currently dependant on diesel generators. If all mills in the village capture methane and generate electricity, the diesel generators can be replaced. Both the mill and the local communities would benefit from the reductions of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and stabilization of POME. This also leads to energy sufficiency for the local oil palm smallholders and lower electricity costs for the villagers in the surrounding area. The social impact assessment indicates that the greatest beneficiaries are the villagers with the opportunity to access power more often at a lower price, which will enable them to consider developing small businesses near their homes.

POME can be also developed as a raw material to obtain hydrogen, due to the presence of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins which can be metabolised during the dark fermentation process. Extraction of hydrogen has a potential to be used in the energy, chemical, biochemical and food industries. The Palm Waste Biomass Gasification Power Generation System (BGPS) could convert the empty fruit bunch (EFB ), palm shell, and fibres into combustible gas. It is then used as a fuel in the gas engine to generate electricity. Biomass gasification system is environmentally-friendly and is one of the most effective way for biomass utilization with small land requirement. The process involves - 1) Biomass gasification which converts biomass into syngas; 2) Syngas purification where the contaminants including dust, coke, tar etc. from the producer gas coming from the gasifier will be removed by the purification system to ensure normal operation of gas engine; and 3) Power generation in the gas engine where the high temperature exhaust gas may be reused by the waste heat boiler to generate steam or hot water for civil or industrial use. The steam turbine can be considered to make a gas-steam combined cycle power plant, which will increase the total efficiency. With the implementation of the network of mini-plants for conversion of POME and Biomass-to-Gas Fuel, the income of the palm oil industry will increase and the standard of living of the local community will improve. 

Bioproducts extracted from the oil palm biomass are non-toxic, biodegradable, and sustainable. Globally, cellulose is the most abundant, cost-effective, and easily available natural polymer, together with hemicelluloses, lignins and the polysaccharides. The EFBs and the fibers can become the major source of biopolymers. The cost of the raw materials, the cost of processing, the market price of current and future bioproducts, marketability and practical use that suit the market needs must be factored in, so that the palm oil industries could gain profitability from the conversion of biomass wastes into value-added products.

The intercropping in oil palm plantation and the crop planting on the felled old oil palm trees are aimed at improving the land use, and increase crop diversity for soil rehabilitation. More importantly, these could ensure that the expansion of new plantation into the virgin forest can be halted. The food waste composting and larvae cultivation can be utilized for biofertilizer production for eventual use during crop planting, and the larvae as feeds for aquaculture. The aquaculture activities can focus on farming and breeding of tilapia and seabass. The fish can be utilized for own consumption or sold to the market to provide extra income.

Algal co-cultivation can be implemented to attain sustainable energy management in the palm oil mill for bioenergy co-generation, with environmental remediation, CO2 capture and biochemicals production. Different algae cultivation methods produce different chemical compounds, which helps in culture specification for specific secondary metabolites. Certain algal species are known for fatty acids, fibers, antioxidants, carotenoids, sterols, proteins, phytocolloids, lectins, oils, amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, and vitamins. These are high value biocompounds which can be commercialized. Algal culture on POME with EFB co-substrate addition could improve the methane and hydrogen yields, whilst enhancing POME remediation efficiency, as compared to the anaerobic digestion system without algae and co-substrate addition. The low cost POME media can be optimized for specific biocompound production.

The agenda of global food security can be met with algal cultivation for food and animal feed. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the global aquaculture production of farmed aquatic animals between 2001-2018 grew on average at 5.3% annually, and the total fish production will increase to 204 million tonnes in 2030. The global production of marine macroalgae has expanded to 32.4 million tonnes in 2018. Large-scale algal culture for aquaculture, the production of biochemicals and biofuels, and the development of manufacturing infrastructure focusing on the extraction of high-value products from algae, could add to the palm oil millers' revenue and benefit the surrounding local community. Lipid nanoparticles from algae can be developed as non-toxic, biocompatible, and easy-to-produce formulations for a more affordable anticancer treatments, or as delivery systems for therapeutics and antimicrobial agents, to treat diseases and infection.

Malaysia depends heavily on fossil-fuel and food imports. The fluctuation of global palm oil supply and demand affects the income of rural villagers. The biomass processing and biogas generation mini-plant in palm oil mill meet the demand for electricity in areas facing intermittent power supply. The biomass, food, plastic and paper waste collection and conversion centres generate new incomes. The teaching of skills related to crop diversification, and aquaculture reduce over dependance on oil palm, and halt new expansion of plantation into the virgin forests. The development of anticancer biocompounds could validate the applicability and economic viability of algal-based products.

The pilot scale stage is accurate to gauge the effectiveness and applicability of the solutions before replication at larger scale. The biomass processing, biogas generation, waste collection and conversion into value-added products will encourage the participation of 170,000 inhabitants of KESEDAR local community. With approximately 8,500 hectares and a yield of approximately 12,000 metric tonnes of oil palm, there are vast opportunities for new income generation and economic activities. The crop plantation and diversification, with aquaculture activities, could reduce over dependance on oil palm, rehabilitate the soil health, and halt the encroachment of new plantation into the surrounding virgin forest. The biomass, food, plastic and paper conversion pilot-scale plant could generate substrates for other products. The algal cultivation could be evaluated for POME treatment, biogas generation and CO2 removal, as feed for aquaculture, and for biochemicals extraction for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical multi-products, with special focus on more affordable cancer treatment.

The solution strives to develop entrepreneurial spirit, through profitability of business venture, with wisdom to execute to achieve the philosophy of H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A Enterprise. The collection centres of biomass, food, paper or plastic wastes for conversion into composts/biofertilizer, for larvae cultivation, and value-added products, could be additional source of income for lower income groups. The education and training centre provides high quality Entrepreneurial Development programme with focus on youth and womenfolk to uplift economic status of the family. The mini plant for the POME treatment and biomass gasification utilize the technologies that reduce the GHG emissions by capturing and converting the biogas into bioenergy for electrical supply to the mill and the surrounding communities. The biomass and plastic processing mini-plant produce biopolymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, and carbon feedstocks from plastics for conversion into bioproducts or diesel. Algal cultivation on POME enhances the effluent remediation, and the algal biomass is used for the extraction of high-value biocompounds and for studies on cancer treatment using animal model. The algal biomass and larvae used as alternative protein source in the aquaculture provides low cost feeds for fish breeders. The biofertilizer is used for crop planting. The integrated approach involving the palm oil mill and the rural communities paves the way for new economic model and producing new generation of agropreneurs. Further expansion of oil palm plantation and the encroachment into virgin forest will be halted, and the existing land rehabilitated with more diverse crops.

The current number of people we are serving is 170,000 inhabitants of KESEDAR local community.

The total number of palm oil mills in operation in Malaysia is estimated at 434 mills. Assuming we will be able to engage with 5 mills in 1 year (3 mills in peninsular, 1 in Sabah and 1 in Sarawak) with 150,000 inhabitants per mill, the number we will be serving in the next one year is 750,000 people.  

We plan to expand to Indonesia, Thailand and the Phillipines in 5 years. Assuming 1 mill in each country of 100,000 inhabitants per mill, with 10 mills in Malaysia with 150,000 inhabitants per mill, the number we will be serving in 5 years is 1.8 million people.

1. The amount of compost, larvae powder produced and biofertilizer used (kg/day)

2. The amount of plastic/paper waste processed (kg/day)

3. The amount of biomass waste processed and cellulose/hemicellulose/lignin produced (kg/day)

4. The amount of biogas generated from digester and gasifier (m3/day)

5. The amount of Biological and Chemical Oxygen Demand reduced after POME treatment (%/day)

6. The amount of algal wet and dry biomass produced (kg/L/day)

7. The amount of fish harvested (kg/m2/month) 

8. The amount of banana/pineapple fruits produced (kg/hectare/month)

9. The amount of astaxanthin/carotenoids extracted (g/kg algal biomass)

10. The lethal dosage of anticancer biocompound/drug in rat model (mg/kg rat)

The solution team:

SIBCo Medical and Pharmaceuticals Sdn. Bhd., under SIBCo Group which is a hybrid of for-profit and non-profit company, is a leading member, responsible in coordination, consolidation and project monitoring.

KOGEN Sdn. Bhd. is a For-profit company, specializes in food waste composting, anaerobic digestion and plastic/paper conversion technology

Universiti Malaysia Kelantan specializes in biomass processing, gasification, aquaculture, agro-biotechnology, algal cultivation, and product isolation

Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu specialize in cancer therapeutics development

Fisheries Research Institute Tanjung Demong, Terengganu specializes in aquaculture

KESEDAR Palm Oil Mill, the plantation estates and surrounding villagers are the participants

SIBCo: 3 staffs - 2 Full time, 1 part-time

KOGEN: 4 full time staffs

Universiti Malaysia Kelantan : 12 full time staffs

Universiti Sains Malaysia : 2 full time staffs

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu: 1 full time staff

Fisheries Research Institute, Tanjung Demong, Terengganu: 1 full time staff 

It is a multidisciplinary team with a wide range of experience in process and environmental engineering, energy, materials, aquaculture, agro-biotechnology and cancer research. 

SIBCo (Biorefinery concept and implementation): 

Mohd Azmuddin Abdullah, PhD, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Post-doctoral fellow in MIT (2000-2001)

Khairul Mizan Ibrahim, B.Eng (Hons), Electrical (Power) Engineering. Working in energy, oil and gas sector with more than 25 years of experience in PETRONAS, Middle East and Asian oil and gas industry.

Khairul Azman Ibrahim, MBBS, Anaesthetic specialist.

KOGEN (Food composting, Biomass processing, Gasification, Plastic/Paper conversion, Anaerobic digestion):

Ir Mohammad Adan Yusof, B.Sc, Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Kamarul Azhar Bin Mohamad Adan, LLB (Hons), Law

Ahmad Zaki Bin Mohamad Adan, B.Sc, Accounting and Finance

Mohamed Shamir Rashid Bin Sultan Allaudin, Diploma, Mechanical Engineering

UMK (Biomass processing, Gasification, Algal cultivation, Aquaculture, Crop planting, Biocompounds):

Aweng Eh Rak, PhD, Environmental Management and Engineering, Integrated Land-use Management

Ahmad Ziad Bin Sulaiman, PhD, Bio/Chemical Engineering

Lee Seong Wei, PhD, Aquaculture

Mazlan Bin Mohamed, PhD, Mechanical Engineering

Raimi Mohamed Redwan, PhD, Crop Biotechnology

Fatimah Kayat, PhD, Plant Breeding/Biotechnology

Shamsul Bin Muhamad, PhD, Biochemistry/Natural Product

Ikarastika Rahayu Abdul Wahab, PhD, Pharmacognosy/Natural Product

Noor Hafizoh Bt. Saidan, PhD, Pharmaceutical/Natural Product Chemistry

Krishna Veni Veloo, PhD, Analytical Chemistry

Lukman bin Ismail, PhD, Chemical/Process Engineering

Mohd Nazri Omar, PhD, Mechanical Engineering

USM (Cancer research):

Tengku Ahmad Damitri Al-Astani Tengku Din, PhD, Molecular Pathology/Breast cancer animal model

Norzila Ismail, PhD, Molecular Oncology/Natural Products

UMT (Chemical analyses):

Maulidiani, PhD, Metabolite Profiling/Biomarker Identification

FRI (Aquaculture):

Ahmad Daud Bin Om, PhD, Aquaculture

Our solution’s leadership team is multi-disciplinary in composition with academic, research and working experience in science, engineering, technology development, agricultural, biotechnology and medical sector. We are composed of 2 commercial companies, 3 universities and 1 government research agency. There are 16 males and 7 females with multi-racial make up from Malay, Chinese, Indian and Siamese background. 

The tangible goals:  

1) To educate on the 17 agenda of Global Sustainable Development Goals and put into practice among the large segment of rural and semi-urban communities 

2) To develop income-generating activities for the rural and semi-urban communities

3) To generate bioenergy and enhance environmental remediation based on existing palm oil mill operation

4) To develop bioproducts based on oil palm fibres and algae

The plan:

1) The establishment of Education and Training Centre to impart skills in waste reduction, and on sustainable agro-practices based on crop planting, and aquaculture

2) The food waste composts for biofertilizer, the biomass wastes for processing into biopolymers, the plastic/paper wastes for conversion into carbon feedstocks, the crop planting and aquaculture activities, yield marketable products to boost income.

3) The bioenergy generated can be used by the mill and the villagers in the immediate surrounding area, with improved treatment of effluent for release into the environment.

4) The cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin are biopolymers for conversion into value-added products which can be commercialized. The algal biocompounds isolated are developed into nutraceuticals, functional food, feed for aquaculture, and as drug carriers for more effective and affordable cancer treatment

MIT is a brand strongly associated with Frontier Science and Technology, innovation and commitment to change for a new and better world. The philosophy of H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A fits well with the entrepreneurial spirit of MIT. Participation in MIT Solve opens up avenue for linkage and network with researchers, investors, technologists and practitioners that have strong interest in eco-system resilience and are committed to solving global climate change problems. We also hope to collaborate with MIT Scientists, not only to elevate the quality of our Cancer research, but more importantly to develop more affordable cancer therapeutics which are up to the FDA standards, which can be made widely available to low/middle income countries. The H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A-MIT Solve collaboration hopefully can bring out the best, which together as a force, could tackle the pressing global problems which affect the Planet and the People, whilst still making the Profit. The collaboration could overcome the financial barriers by tapping into the long experience of MIT in developing bio-based start-up companies, with wide access to green financiers. The H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A-MIT Solve joint forces, combining the best values and practices of the East and the West, could overcome the buy-in and acceptance barriers especially when we reach out to the global audience in Asia, Europe and the rest of the world, with our solutions for scale-up and replication.

Human Capital: Green practitioners and Research scientists with affiliation or link to MIT

Business model: Product-Global market fit, Strategy and development for global outreach

Financial: Networking with investors and venture capitalists, green financing and pitching to potential investors

Technology: Latest technology for adoption in large-scale plantation and healthcare especially related to Artificial Intelligence and Automated Mechanisation, and also in frontier Cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

Prof. Anthony J. Sinskey, Department of Biology, MIT

Prof. ChoKyun Rha, Biomaterials Science and Engineering Laboratory, MIT

Dr. Gnana Sambandan, Biomaterials Science and Engineering Laboratory, MIT

Prof Sinskey, and Prof. Rha were co-chair of Malaysia-MIT Biotechnology Partnership Programme (MMBPP). Dr Sambandan was involved as a Senior Research Scientist of MMBPP. They can provide guidance, share and impart their knowledge, experience and network that have been acquired during the implementation of MMBPP.

Dr. Hanaa Ali Hussein, University of Basrah, Iraq.

Dr. Hussein has graduated with a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology, UMT. Her research has led to the filing of 3 Malaysian patents and 2 trademarks on microalgal anticancer activities. She will assist with the solutions on algal biocompounds for cancer treatment.

Dr. Hamdy Elsayed Ahmed Ali, Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Egypt.

Dr Ali has worked extensively on microalgae for biocompounds production and microbial environmental remediation. He will assist with the solutions on algal cultivation, and share expertise on microbiology, phycology, chemistry and statistical analysis.

Dr. Irshad ul Haq Bhat, Senior Research Scientist, ERA Chair for Food (By-)Products Valorisation Technologies (VALORTECH) Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 56/5, 51006, Tartu, Estonia, European Union (EU).

Dr. Bhat was a member of H♦E♦E♦S♦B♦A trademark application, as he was previously an academic in UMK and UMT, before moving to Estonia in early 2021. He will assist with the solutions on Biomaterials development based on his research in Nanocatalysis, Nanoparticles, Material Science, Waste water treatment, Marine pollution, and Bio-Composites.

The solutions meet the prize criteria to develop smart, safe and sustainable communities based on existing mill operation, and large-scale monocrop plantation as a model system. The emphasis on adoption of sustainable agro-practices and circular economy within the communities ensures new green economic model to be developed which uplift the livelihood of rural and semi-urban communities, whilst taking care of the environment, reducing wastes and pollution, conserving the natural eco-system, and halting encroachment into the natural forest. 

The solutions meet the prize criteria which use innovative technology to improve quality of life for women and girls based on existing mill operation, and large-scale monocrop plantation as a model system. The entrepreneurial development programme aims to uplift the socio-economic status of womenfolk and youth. The emphasis on circular economy within the communities make use of technology for bioenergy co-generation with biomass wastes and effluent remediation, convert the wastes into value-added products, and adopt sustainable agro-practices in crop planting and aquaculture. The solutions' innovations elevate the economic status of womenfolk and youth in rural and semi-urban communities, whilst reducing wastes and pollution, conserving the natural eco-system, and halting encroachment into the natural forest. 

The solutions meet the prize criteria to connect communities to develop, share, and replicate best practices for carbon absorption and decarbonization based on existing mill operation, and large-scale monocrop plantation as a model system. The emphases are on the management of CO2 and methane capture, biohydrogen storage, conversion into energy, adoption of sustainable agro-practices, and implementation of circular economy within the communities. This ensures production of green and biobased products from materials conversion, algae, aquaculture and crop planting, and utilization of ecofriendly agro-chemicals, whilst reducing wastes and pollution, conserving the natural eco-system, and halting encroachment into the natural forest. 

The solutions meet the prize criteria which use an innovative and sustainable approach to tackle the most pressing issues of the local communities based on existing mill operation, and large-scale monocrop plantation as a model system. The emphasis on circular economy within the communities make use of technology for bioenergy co-generation with biomass wastes and effluent remediation, conversion of wastes into value-added products, and adoption of sustainable agro-practices in crop planting and aquaculture. The algal biocompound cancer research could pave the way for more affordable cancer treatment. The solutions' innovations elevate the economic status of rural and semi-urban communities whilst reducing wastes and pollution, conserving the natural eco-system, and halting encroachment into the natural forest.