Technical and Socioeconomic Potential of Biogas from Cassava Waste in Ghana

Abstract

This study analyses technical potential and ex ante socioeconomic impacts of biogas production using cassava waste from agroprocessing plants. An analysis was performed for two biodigesters in two cassava processing communities in Ghana. The results showed that the two communities generate an excess of 4,500 tonnes of cassava peels per year. Using approximately 5% of the peels generated and livestock manure as inoculum can generate approximately 75,000 m3 of gas with an estimated 60% methane content from two separate plants of capacities 500 m3 and 300 m3 in the two communities. If used internally as process fuel, the potential gas available could replace over 300 tonnes of firewood per year for cassava processing. The displacement of firewood with gas could have environmental, economic, and social benefits in creating sustainable development. With a 10 percent discount rate, an assumed 20-year biodigester will have a Net Present Value of approximately US$ 148,000, 7-year Payback Period, and an Internal Rate of Return of 18.7%. The project will create 10 full-time unskilled labour positions during the investment year and 4 positions during operation years.

Biomethane Potential from Co-digestion of Cassava and Winery Waste in South Africa

“…For co-digestion of both cassava and winery waste, it started from day 5 and dropped on day 20 (Fig. 4) After which the biogas production became normalized using Equation (2). The amount of methane in the biogas was found to be 62% of the total biogas produced which was comparable to values obtained by Abdeshahian [15].…”

“…More than 260 million tonnes of cassava were produced all over the world in 2012 and 60% used as a food source, while 33% was used for animal feed [2]. In South Africa cassava is used for starch production and 20 000 tons of its starch are produced commercially [3].…”

Bioenergy and Biorefinery: Feedstock, Biotechnological Conversion, and Products

“…High biohydrogen production yield comparable to those from other biomass sources have been successfully achieved. Other industrial waste biomass sources such as cassava waste from mills, rice slurry, and oil seed mill effluent have been suggested to be potential sources for biogas production …”

Electricity generation prospects from clustered smallholder and irrigated rice farms in Ghana

“…Rising fossil fuel prices and increasing concerns about climate change are creating a growing demand for new sources of raw material for sustainable electricity and heat production [13,18,30]. For countries with poor access to electricity and modern fuels, biomass provides an alternative raw material source that can be explored for the production of modern energy to meet rising energy demand and spur socio-economic development [4,8,19,21,25]. Home grown biomass resources offer significant potential for increasing the quantity and controlling the rising costs of raw material to produce energy.…”