Increasing Access to Electricity: An Assessment of the Energy and Power Generation Potential from Biomass Waste Residues in Tanzania

Abstract

Tanzania has a high rural population, of which many rely on off-grid diesel generators to produce electricity. The focus of this paper is to assess if the waste biomass residues in Tanzania have sufficient energy potential to produce renewable electrical energy for small-scale electricity generation using off-grid diesel generators coupled with anaerobic digestion (AD) and/or gasification. The gaseous fuel produced can then be used to substitute diesel fuel used in small-scale dual fuel diesel gen-sets; thus, providing more affordable electricity whilst reducing dependency on fossil fuels. The biomass waste streams estimated are those arising from agriculture, forestry, livestock, and urban human waste. To answer this question, the energy potentials of each of these biomass waste streams are quantified, followed by further calculations to determine the electricity generation capacity per stream based on overall efficiencies of 10 and 25%. The results show that combined these waste streams have an energy potential of 385 PJ (for the base year of 2018) generated from 26,924 kilotonnes (kt). Collectively, these residues can produce at least 1.2 times the electricity generated nationally in 2018 using AD and gasification coupled with a diesel gen-set engine.

Potential of a Nonperennial Tributary Integrated with Solar Energy for Rural Electrification: A Case Study of Ikukwa Village in Tanzania

“…Gasification is a thermochemical activity that combines the interaction of biomass in the presence of air, oxygen, or steam to generate a combination of gases, including hydrogen (H 2 ) methane (CH 4 ), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrogen (N 2 ), and hydrocarbons called as syngas, producer gas, or synthetic gas, the quantities of which vary [14,15]. e primary goal of the process of gasification is to maximize the yield of vapors while minimizing the production of unreacted char and hydrolysable hydrocarbons.…”

“…Because unattractive compounds such as tars are destroyed during gas combustion, the syngas used is barely cleansed. If the tar is not overwhelmed and the majority of the particulate matter is removed from the gasifier, syngas can also be used in combustion engines [14,15]. Gas turbines encourage high-efficiency integrated gasification-combined cycle power, while good gas cleaning is required.…”

Analysis of the effect of syngas substitution of diesel on the Heat Release Rate and combustion behaviour of Diesel-Syngas dual fuel engine

“…The utilization of syngas in diesel generators will widen the fuel choices and availability in those developing countries with abundant biomass to produce syngas [1]. Fossil fuels require large-scale refining and transport infrastructure, and are also subject to geopolitical events that can affect social stability, price and availability [2,3].…”

Design of a Hybrid Energy System with Energy Storage for Standalone DC Microgrid Application

“…Recent research has shown that in Tanzania, the access to electricity is limited to 35.6% of the total 56.32 million population as of 2018 [1]. One location, a village called Luxmanda, is not connected to the grid, but survives on the available DC microgrid which provides power to some few loads [2].…”