Crop residues as potential feedstock for bio-oil production in Ghana

Abstract

Many Ghanaians living in rural communities do not have easy access to electricity for developmental needs. They depend largely on biomass for their domestic and commercial activities that require heat. The limited areas of applications of heat energy derived directly from biomass such as fuel wood retards the pace of development. However, there is potential for harnessing these readily available biomass to produce other forms of energy for wider applications. The production of five crops (maize, rice, millet, sorghum and groundnuts) in Ghana and the potential magnitude of their residues as feedstock for bio-fuels in each region of Ghana was analysed in the study. It is evident that there is significant potential for using crop residues to produce biooils for wider application to accelerate regional development. The Northern Region was found to have the most potential followed by the Brong Ahafo Region. The renewable energy policy in the country must be geared towards utilizing these crop residues to abate the energy requirements in the regions with most potential.