Nigeria is a developing country with an insufficient supply of energy to meet the continuously growing demand. However, there are several biomass resources available within the country. This paper presents a desk review, which investigates the potential resources for biomass energy generation within the country. Energy policies to aid biomass use as an energy source within the country were also reviewed. Biomass resources identified within Nigeria include forest residues, agricultural residues, human and animal wastes, aquatic biomass, and energy crops. However, several of the resources, particularly agricultural residues, have competing uses, such as livestock feed and soil rejuvenation. An estimation of the technical energy potential of the biomass resources revealed that about 2.33 EJ could be generated from the available resources in Nigeria. Agricultural residues have an energy potential of about 1.09 EJ, with cassava, maize, oil palm, plantain, rice, and sorghum being the major contributors. Animal wastes, municipal solid waste, and forest residues have energy potentials of 0.65, 0.11, and 0.05 EJ, respectively. The potentials of wood fuel and charcoal are 0.38 and 0.05 EJ, respectively. The study found that despite the available potential and existing policies, not much has been done in the implementation of large-scale bioenergy within the country. However, there has been laboratory and research-scale investigations. The review suggests that more policies and stronger enforcement will aid bioenergy development within the country. From the review, it has been suggested that the agricultural sector needs to be developed to generate more biomass resources. More research, development, and implementation have to be carried out on biomass resources and bioenergy generation processes. The production of non-edible energy crops in marginal lands should also be considered prime to the development of bioenergy within the country.

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An assessment of the potential availability of selected residues from maize, cassava, millet, plantain, groundnuts, sorghum, oil palm, palm kernel, and cowpeas for possible conversion to renewable energy in Nigeria has been made. It is estimated that nearly 58 million tonnes of these residues were potentially available in the year 2004 with energy potential of about 20.8 million tonnes oil equivalents. The residue availability for 2010 is projected to be about 80 million tonnes. These residues, when converted to energetically usable forms, can substitute or complement the fossil energy sources in Nigeria by more than 80%.

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The cost and difficulty in the preparation of synthetic heterogeneous base catalysts is the main barrier to their use. Today, the majority of these catalysts are derived from biomass resources. This study aimed at developing and characterizing these catalysts from three biogenic residues for biodiesel production without catalyst support. The EDS indicated the variation of Na, K, Mg, and Ca, having aggregates of 67.45, 83.15, and 76.85 % in calcined‐ periwinkle shell‐ash (CPWSA), ‐melon seed‐husk ash (CMSHA) and ‐locust bean pod ash (CLBPA), respectively. XRD revealed the presence of sodium oxide (Na2O), calcium oxide (CaO), potassium oxide (K2O), and magnesium oxide (MgO) in the catalysts at 800 °C. The FTIR showed the presence of C=O, C−H, and O−H bonds in the catalyst samples. The basicity values of CPWSA, CMSHA, and CLBPA are 11.65, 10.41, and 11.62, respectively. The developed catalysts were used to synthesize biodiesel from palm kernel oil.

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