Biomass Availability and its Potential for Sustainable Green Energy Production and Utilization in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Biomass has gained an essential role in the last decades as renewable energy feedstock due to energy, economic and environmental concerns. Sources of biomass can be from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include plant materials, such as wood and crops, while the secondary sources comprised waste materials; these include plant or animal residues. The biomass materials available mostly in abundance in Niger State are rice husk and groundnut shell, to the extent they are being left or dump, sometimes in heap format, in some places they are subjected to burning, which has environmental impact. Also, fossil fuels reserves are finite and non-renewable. Depending on the method of conversion used, the available residues can be utilized for production of environmentally friendly energy that is sustainable in nature. This paper focused on determining the quantity of rice husk and groundnut shell available for utilization for energy production in Niger State, the amount of energy that can be obtained from the available rice husk and groundnut shell, various techniques or technological processes for converting these resources, as well as the cost of conversion process. The projected quantity of rice husk and groundnut shell in Niger State is 7172.41 and 3575.495 tons/annum respectively. The projected amount of energy that can be obtained from the available biomass is 128370724.1 MJ/annum. The various technological processes feasible for converting these residues are combustion, torrefaction, pyrolysis, gasification and hydrothermal carbonization. The estimated cost for installing a mini pyrolysis reactor is seven hundred and fifty-five thousand naira (N755,000).