Energy Potential and Sustainability of Straw Resources in Three Regions of Ghana

Patience Afi Seglah, Yajing Wang, Hongyan Wang, Komikouma Apelike Wobuibe Neglo, Chunyu Gao and Yuyun Bi
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Patience Afi Seglah: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Yajing Wang: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Hongyan Wang: Agriculture Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Komikouma Apelike Wobuibe Neglo: Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Chunyu Gao: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Yuyun Bi: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: Anthropogenic global warming and the depletion of nonrenewable resources necessitate a transition towards bioenergy to accelerate sustainable development and carbon neutrality. This study quantified the availability and energy potential of crop (cereals, legumes, roots and tubers) straws based on data from the Northern, North East and Savannah regions in Ghana. The annual technical straw potential was 2,967,933 tonnes, whilst the crop straws with the highest technical potential were yam (935,927 tonnes), groundnut (485,236 tonnes), maize (438,926 tonnes) and soybean (374,564 tonnes). The technical energy potential of all the crop straws was 42,256 TJ, although the energy potential of yam, groundnut, maize and soybean was 13,922 TJ, 7611 TJ, 5704 TJ and 5409 TJ, respectively. There was a linear correlation between the straw produced and the energy potential per region. The Northern region (28,153 TJ) recorded the highest energy potential followed by the Savannah (8330 TJ) and North East (5773 TJ) regions. To serve as context, the research placed an emphasis on the sustainability of crop straws for bioenergy and added a brief analysis of the life cycle assessment (LCA) of bioenergy scenarios to explore the environmental sustainability of crop straw-based power generation. This study will serve as a reference in understanding LCA inference on practicable research of crop straw-based, power plant expansion in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Keywords: sustainability; straw resources; energy potential; bioenergy; climate change; carbon footprint; life cycle assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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