Suitability of Anaerobic Digesters for West Africa: Nigeria as a Case Study

Abstract

West Africa comprises 16 countries including Nigeria. In Nigeria, there are two seasons; the dry season where midday temperature surpasses 38° C and rainy season with midday temperature as low as 12°C. Agricultural losses are generated from every step of food and animal processing due to low technological adoption. Most West African countries have very high fraction of organic components in their waste stream (up to 56 percent) and are currently disposed of in dumpsites and in some cases uncontrolled landfills. The average temperature, food and animal waste are major potentials for the anaerobic digester with energy recovery. An economic appraisal of a dumpsite in Nigeria was carried out using the net present value (NPV) technique and adopting a shadow price of carbon of $10 (1, 557 naira). A negative NPV of ~ $0.36million (56,107,144.33 naira) was calculated. Also, a substantial portion of land can be reclaimed by adopting anaerobic digesters.