UTILIZATION OF COCOA POD HUSKS FOR THE GENERATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN GHANA

Faithful Finney Adubofour

Master's thesis

Abstract:

There is a high energy poverty in the rural communities of Ghana. Crop residues are ubiquitous in rural areas of Ghana as agriculture plays a stellar role in livelihood activities in these communities. In this study, the prospects of exploiting agricultural crop residues for rural development in Ghana through bioenergy schemes are investigated. At a 70 % recoverable rate of CPHs, Edwenase produces 53 tons of CPHs annually, which can generate 80,772 kWh of electricity each year. CPHs were identified as important biomass resources for energy generation as they are currently being wasted in Edwenase, who have no waste management system for agricultural residues. To further assess the energy potential of CPHs, different CPH samples were collected in the Edwenase community of Ghana and thermo-chemically characterized using UA and PA. An assembly of LBCs and the local farmers was also made to aggregate data on annual cocoa production and other socio-economic factors that may influence the production, availability, and management of the cocoa. The study revealed the CPHs have a HHV of 18.28 MJ/kg which is comparable to widely used feedstock, such as wood, bagasse, rice husk and straw. The low levels of N and S observed, together with the high heating value, suggest that CPHs are eco-friendly feedstock that can be used to power rural communities in Ghana which can help bridge the poverty gap between urban and rural. As low-class users, CPHs produced in Edwenase has 3 times the potential to supply the community with electricity annually since they only need 24,300 KWh at the household level. It was however recommended that a techno-economic analysis is performed to understand the cost of generating and utilising such biopower in rural communities.

Keywords

Biochemical Process, Heating Value, Biopower, Agriculture Residues, Valorization, Proximate Analysis, Ultimate Analysis

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 27. 4. 2024

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 3. 6. 2024
• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Vladimír Krepl, CSc.
• Reader: Abraham Kabutey, doc. Ing.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme:
Agri-food Systems and Rural Development