Report Title

Purpose/ Background of the Activity

IET 120 Spring 2014

The purpose of this project is to develop a water purification system that can be used in developing country of Ghana. The water system will benefit people who live in Ghana near the Lake Volta region. There are villages in this part of country that walk almost an hour round trip to get water and have to make this trip 5- times a day to provide enough water for their families. !t is important to have many people in group so that we can benefit from the different thinking strategies of other people. "any people bring many talent to group so we can all use what everyone offers to get best project at end.

Part One #ustomer $society% The customer for this project is people who live in villages around Lake Volta in Ghana &frica. This is a part of the world that is developing and needs help in getting access to clean water daily. The Lake Volta region of Ghana is a poor region with many people $women and children% walking up to 5 or hours every day to get their water for family. They carry water jugs that are very heavy and do not hold much often spilling water on the way back. 'nly ()* of people in Ghana have access to sanitation places like latrines so the water these people are drinking is dirty and contains bad bacteria that can make them sick. +art of access problem is culture believe that using latrine is bad so there is current group trying to do education program to make them understand this is better option.

+roduct ,esign and -unction ./planation The product we decided to make for customer is a water purification system. !t is a large water holding system that would be filled up initially by water from local water sources. This still re0uires people to walk and get water but would be a group project that village would work together on. !t will be clear plastic and sit on top of a black painted metal surface. !nside the jug will be packets of activated charcoal. The system will be on wheels so that it can be pushed or pulled instead of being carried since it will be so heavy when filled up. The system works by being placed on black metal surface it will heat the water up to very hot inside. This will kill off living things like bacteria that make people sick. The activated charcoal will work by trapping things in the water and filters them out. &ctivated charcoal is used in water systems all through the world and can be made from growing organic materials.

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IET 120 Spring 2014

The activated charcoal will be produced from organic material. !t can be made from things like coconut husks1 trees or leftover agriculture stalks. This allows the communities to work together and provide their own materials to help in this project. &fter substance is burned down to charcoal it needs to be crushed up which can be done manually and needs acid to make it have pores. The acid can be lemon juice and has been shown to work well in home settings. This means that all parts of activated charcoal could be made and planted for future use. The jug and metal would be made from recycled materials using old metal from dumps repurposed for this and plastic recycling done in other locations in world.

+roduct ,rawings and +rototype !mages

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Part Two "anufacturing 3usiness !nformation

IET 120 Spring 2014

This is a business plan for the company &ctiv-#har. This company is in the water purification business. The company has been profitable for the last 5 years and helps to make products for water purification systems used around the world. &ctiv-#har is a manufacturing company that produces activated charcoal. &ctivated charcoal is used in many water purification systems in the 4nited 5tates and throughout the world. This system of removing substance from water is used in everyday products in the 4nited 5tates like the +ur and 3rita branded pitcher systems. 6e are looking to e/pand our product into the developing countries where access to 0uality drinking water is a major issue. 'ur product is made through the controlled burn of organic materials1 in our case it is coconut husks. &fter the burning of our starting material1 pyrolysis and charring1 we move on to increasing pore si7e in charcoal. The product is then rinsed off and dried to final product. !t is packaged in filtration system needs and sold for market. The primary products needed for us to make our solution are organic material source which is coconut husks and lemon juice. !n attempt to keep our cost down1 we get coconut husks from our own farm that we own. 6e raise the coconuts and get the husks from the coconuts when they are grown and matured. The rest of the fruit can be sold at that point which provides second source of income. Like the coconut1 lemons will be grown by the company. 8ou only need the juice from the lemons so the remaining portion can be used or sold as composting material.

Locations
The location for the 4nited 5tates will be in -lorida. !t will be based in -ort Lauderdale1 -lorida. The main reason that the factory will be located in -lorida for the 4nited 5tates is that it will be located near the organic material source used in the product. -lorida and 9awaii are the only two states in the 4nited 5tates that meet climate needs for growing these fruits. 9awaii is too e/pensive to consider with transportation costs of the final product. !n -lorida1 there is an airport in -ort Lauderdale that would allow shipping product through the 4nited 5tates and !nternationally at a very convenient place. There are locations all over -lorida that would allow coconuts to be raised there and brought by truck to the factory in -ort Lauderdale. The finished product could be sent from the local airport. :ecruiting employees would be easy because -ort Lauderdale is a very popular location in -lorida. !t is located near beaches and many people would want to live and work in -lorida.

The location of the factory will be at 3233 SW 2nd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
(Broward County)

!t is a 221;;; s0uare foot facility that has office space already built into it. The ceilings are 2;2< feet high depending on part of the building. There is warehouse space that can be converted to necessary burn e0uipment. !t is set up to be warehouse which means it will have space for storage until shipped off. The price of the building is =)15;;1;;;.

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!nterstate >5 will take you to -ort Lauderdale. 8ou can also travel over to !nterstate ?5 which will take you @orth to where you can get to many other states in the 4nited 5tates. !nterstate >5 south will take you to "iami -lorida where materials could be shipped out from major seaports located there. "iami is 2?.? miles from -ort Lauderdale1 so international shipping is very convenient to location. This means that bringing in materials through here would also be easy to do.

The second location will in Ghana. This location was picked to keep sources near those benefiting from the final product. !t was also picked because ingredient source for activated carbon can be grown in Ghana near the location of where it will be used. That is1 coconuts grow near Lake Volta in Ghana naturally. This means that source farms could be built in area and picked and used for the activated charcoal. 5ince the product only re0uires the dried husks from coconuts1 the inner fruit could still be used as food in the villages. The factory will be located in the Greater &ccra region of Ghana. !t is 25;; meters A 25;; meters and is on 2.5 acres of land. !t is for 2.?5 million dollars. This region is the ne/t region over from the Volta region so it will be somewhat close to location of where coconuts are grown and product will be shipped back.

picture from ghanaweb.com

The distance from &ccra to Lake Volta is ((2 miles. There is not a large road structure in Ghana like in the 45 so most road shipping will be along dirt roads. &ccra is located along the &tlantic 'cean and could receive international shipments through ship.

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,emographics

IET 120 Spring 2014

The demographics of -ort Lauderdale1 -lorida show it to be a pretty stable area of the country. The population in 2;(2 was (?;1 ?<? which shows it is a decent si7ed city that would benefit from industry work coming into the area. The percent of population under (B or over 5 are (?. * and (5.)* indicating that the majority of people are of working age meaning there is plenty of people for employee pool. The gender split is <?.2* female and 52.B* male. The area is 2. percent white1 )(* black and ().? percent 9ispanic. The city has 2(.>* first generation &mericans in its population. &bout one third of residents have a 3achelors degree and over half own a home. &verage rent rates for one bedroom homes range from B5;-(25; 45 dollars depending on location. "ortgage rates vary depending on value of home and location. !n 2;()1 -ort Lauderdale metro area had the third lowest unemployment rate in -lorida. That rate was .2 percent. 'ne reason was job growth in #onstruction and "anufacturing industries. This is a part of country that looks for manufacturing work to help improve citi7en life. The median income level is =<B1(<B but actual income is spread out pretty wide. The city of &ccra is a very big city in Ghana. The population is 2.( million. !t is said that about half a million people commute into the city to work every day. The city itself is divided into (( submetros and population in those areas vary a lot. The city is a young one. There is large amount of people between 2( and <; which would be good workforce age. The city population is growing. "any people live in one dwelling. The source did not define this as single house or apartment but just called it a dwelling1 with the average rate being ((. people. &lmost half of the city earns between (;; and 5;; new Ghana #edis a month $=) .B<-=(B<.2(%. .arning below (;; #edis is considered very poor and about 2(* are in this category. The city is very educated. <5* finished secondary school and 2(* have university education. 'ne thing that could be potential problem1 is commuters. !f you want to move to city and rent you may have to pay in advance as much as ) years rent to move in. &bout (C) of renters reported paying that much in advance. :eferences Duickfacts.census.govC0fdCstatesC(2C(22<;;;.html www.numbeo.com ama.govCghCresourcesCdocsCconsultative*2;citi7ens*2;report*2;card*2;.pdf

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