Bamboo as a Cost-Effective Source of Renewable Carbon for Sustainable Economic Development in Low- and Middle-Income Economies

Nneka B. Ekwe, Maksim V. Tyufekchiev, Ali A. Salifu, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, Zhaoxi Zheng, Alex R. Maag, Geoffrey A. Tompsett, Charles M. Cai, Emmanuel O. Onche, Ayten Ates, Winston O. Soboyejo, Robert Krueger and Michael T. Timko ()
Additional contact information
Nneka B. Ekwe: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja 900107, Nigeria
Maksim V. Tyufekchiev: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
Ali A. Salifu: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja 900107, Nigeria
Klaus Schmidt-Rohr: Department of Chemistry, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Zhaoxi Zheng: Department of Chemistry, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Alex R. Maag: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Science and Technology for Development, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
Geoffrey A. Tompsett: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Science and Technology for Development, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
Charles M. Cai: Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), Bourns College of Engineering, University of California, Riverside,1084 California Ave, Riverside, CA 92507, USA
Emmanuel O. Onche: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja 900107, Nigeria
Ayten Ates: Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, 58140 Sivas, Turkey
Winston O. Soboyejo: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja 900107, Nigeria
Robert Krueger: Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, Institute of Science and Technology for Development, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
Michael T. Timko: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Science and Technology for Development, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA

Energies, 2022, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Low- and middle-income countries have tremendous potential for renewable energy production, including production of renewable carbon from locally prolific crops. In this work, bamboo endemic to West Africa ( Bambusa vulgaris ) was studied as a feedstock for the production of renewable sugars as the gateway to the local production of biofuels and bio-based chemical products. The effectiveness of delignification and amorphization pretreatments was evaluated, with the observation that quantitative (97 ± 4%) sugar yields could be obtained with a rapid initial hydrolysis rate (82 ± 4 mg g −1 h −1 ) but only when amorphization was performed following delignification. Experimental measurements and further characterization using 13 C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) helped establish the importance of amorphization and delignification and explained why the order of these treatments determined their effectiveness. The economics of the bamboo-based process were compared with those projected for corn stover, selected as a well-studied benchmark crop. Because of the higher bamboo growth rate compared with corn stover and the effectiveness of the pretreatment, the projected net present value (NPV) of the bamboo biorefinery was positive ($190 MM, U.S.), whereas the corn biorefinery projected to negative NPV (−$430 MM, U.S.). A socially sustainable framework for deployment of a bamboo biorefinery in a low- or middle-income economy was then proposed, guided by the principle of local ownership and stakeholder buy-in. The findings presented here motivate further investment in development of bamboo cultivation and conversion to sugars as a rapid route to decarbonization of low- and middle-income economies.

Keywords: cellulosic sugars; biofuels; bamboo; techno-economic analysis; development engineering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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