Supplying the Pfunda Tea Factory, Lake Kivu, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo
Michel Halbwachs

Kivu Lake between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, contains an enormous quantity of dissolved methane. Exploiting this methane is a fabulous opportunity for the economic development of this region. This gas also constitutes a risk of cataclysmic explosion, as occurred in Cameroon at Nyos Lake. A scientific French and Swiss group studied the physicochemical characteristics of the lake and evaluated the risk of a gas explosion. The Company Data Environnement has set up a pilot station to extract the methane for energetic purposes and proposed the promotion of this gas for diverse applications.