A guy from Eritrea working at Dairy Campus

My name is Eseyas Abraha, I hail from a small country on the east of Africa, Eritrea. After finishing my Bachelor in Agricultural Engineering, I worked for the Ministry of Agriculture for four years. There I was involved in several Agricultural/environmental development projects.

In 2012 I was selected by the Netherlands national fellowship program (NFP) to do my Masters in Wageningen University and Research Center.

Owing to my interest in the Engineering/technological aspect of the environment, I decided to do my Master thesis in the department of Environmental technology (ETE). My research was focused using Blue energy (Energy from membrane controlled advanced mixing of saline and fresh water), to increase the efficiency of sea water desalination plant by studying the behaviors of (in) organic pollutants.  

During the final phase of my study I came to the Dairy Campus to do my internship on a project that was dedicated to develop a novel nutrient retrieval/extraction from animal waste (cow manure). This was done using a series of state of the art technologies. The project was being executed by Royal Haskoning DHV (a leading Engineering and project management consultancy firm in the Netherlands) in collaboration with Dairy Campus, Friesland Campina and Omrin. After successfully completing my internship, Royal Haskoning DHV offered me an employment position and I went on to work till the end of the project. From my ten months stay with this project, I have increased my understanding of the real world projects and I was also introduced to a wide gamut of technologies which I was responsible for running, partial maintenance and performance assessment through a series of laboratory measurements.

It is difficult to imagine the success of the project without the excellent working environment, hospitality and contentious support that were accorded by all the Dairy Campus crew on a daily basis. This inveterate quality of the Dairy Campus is further complimented by the success of the various research projects executed so far and by the amount of the interested visitors and researchers that the Campus is attracting from all over the world.

I am currently looking for a similar project to be involved in; among others I am also interested in renewable energy, waste water treatment and nutrient recovery, wetland management, and microbial fuel cell.