BIOMASS TECHNOLOGIES IN GHANA

Sefa-Bonsu Atakora Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment (KITE) 4 th Floor SSNIT Building Annex, Harper Road, Admn, Kumasi-Ghana. P. O. Box 6534 Kumasi, Ghana. Tel/Fax: +233-51-33824 E-Mail: kite@ghana.com

ABSTRACT
Biomass energy accounts for 35% o f the developing world's total energy consumption and 75% of all people in this region depend on it. In Sub-Saharan Africa, biomass constitutes 73% of the total energy consumption and in Ghana, 70% of the total national energy consumption is accounted for by biomass. Biomass enduse products for energy in Ghana are mainly fuelwood and charcoal. This paper does an assessment of the biomass energy resources and goes on to look at the different conversion technologies in the country. A review of the many studies and projects on biomass initiated to date in Ghana is done and an attempt made at evaluating each o f them to verify the viability and environmental impacts as well as assess the reasons for success or failure o f the projects and technologies. Seven main technologies covering all projects are considered and reviewed. The main barriers inhibiting effective dissemination of renewable energy technologies (RETs) are found to include poor management of projects, lack of necessary financial incentives, flaws in feasibility assessment, high initial costs of renewable energy products and poor marketing and awareness programs. It is recommended at the end to do a more detailed analysis of some of the technologies that are known to have been quite successful in order to get them thoroughly assessed and learn from their experiences.

Keywords: Biomass, Renewable, Energy, Technologies, Resources.

INTRODUCTION
Biomass (abbreviation for biological mass) is any organic matter produced by plants both terrestrial and aquatic. In fact all fuel energy derived directly or indirectly from biological sources is termed 'biomass energy' and is mainly composed of wood, crop residues and dung as well as their derivatives like biogas and briquettes. Biomass is normally considered as a form o f solar energy as the latter is used in an indirect way to grow plants through photosynthesis. In Ghana biomass is the most dominant source of energy and is used significantly in the domestic sector for cooking and many other heat applications. Woodfuels, in the form of forest wood, charcoal and wood processing residues are the most dominant biomass forms of energy in use in Ghana although crop residue and other non-woody materials also find some usage. Most rural dwellers (about 70% of people in Ghana) and almost all farmers heavily depend on fuel wood for all their domestic and other commercial activities that require heat. Use ofbiomass in many commercial and institutional establishments all over the country is also a case in point worthy of

mention. About 70% o f the total national energy consumption is accounted for by biomass in either the direct or processed form [KITE, 1999]. The agricultural and the forest product sectors in Ghana are major foreign exchange earners for the country. The contribution of agriculture to Ghana's GDP is currently rated at about 40% (1998 figure) and this is a decline from 42.6% in 1992. The crops grown include such cash crops as cocoa, cashew nuts, palm nuts and seasonal crops like rice, maize and others, which yield a lot of residue. In recent years about one million cubic meters (1,000,000m 3) of logs have been harvested in the country annually for the wood processing industry alone. The logging activities yield a lot o f residues which are used at varying efficiencies for energy purposes [Atakora, Brew Hammond, 1999]. Also available in the country are considerable amounts of non-woody biomass in the form of animal and human waste. Livestock rearing is a major activity in some parts of the country especially the north and the number of head of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and other animals is quite substantial. The waste produced is enormous and there have been a number of projects and studies aimed at improved biogas technologies in the country.

RESOURCE ASSESSMENT Forest Resources And Logging Residues

The forest resources in Ghana are categorised into the open (savanna) and the closed (high forest) zones. The former made up of the whole of the two upper regions, the northern region, most of the Brong Ahafo and the Volta regions covers an estimated total area of 9.6 million hectares (ha) of which 2.9 million ha is bush fallow [Nketia, 1992]. The remainder is degraded savanna. The closed forest zone covers a little more than a third of the country's total land area and has a size o f about 8.2 million ha., 20% o f which is reserved either as forest reserves or fuelwood plantations [Nketia, 1992]. Altogether forest reserves in the country cover about 2.47 million ha. which is about 10.5% of the total land area. The reserves are categorised into production reserves (covering 12,105 km 2) and protective reserves (covering 12,604 km2). The former are managed for sustainable production of timber and non-timber forest products and the latter are managed solely for environmental protection and are thus closed to timber exploitation. The merchantable wood material extracted from logging activities from the forest is principally the fairly straight, sound bole volume part o f the tree which is about 49.6% of the total tree volume. All other parts of the plant such as the stump, butt-end offcut, crown-end off-cuts and branchwood are considered as logging wastes and treated as such. In 1990 an estimated 688,262 tons of residue was generated from logging activities alone. These residues are used on rare occasions for fuel wood (logging areas always have abundant fuelwood resources), and charcoal production (species for milling are not preferred by charcoalers). The logging residues are sometimes used for particle board and fibreboard production and sometimes as raw material for the secondary manufacture of small dimension products like flooring, tool handles, crates

and pallets. All in all only a very small percentage of logging residues find any major use at all. Conversion of woody biomass to charcoal is good business for many people (about 55,000) in Ghana [Nketia, 1992]. Charcoal plays an important role in the national economy and accounts for about 3% of the Gross National Product [Nketia, 1992]. Statistics indicate that about 4.8 million m 3 ofroundwood is converted to charcoal with a corresponding logging residue generation from charcoal production of about 1.36 million m 3 each year.

Wood Processing, Residues

The timber industry in Ghana has seen a drastic change from an all export trade of few preferred round logs (which depleted our forest of most of the prime species) in the earlier years to an intensive wood processing activity resulting in export of lumber and veneer in recent years. Log production in Ghana in 1990 was 1.36 million m 3 and though plant managers complain of scarcity of wood/timber resources over the decade, an overview of the wood processing industry reveals that the springing up of newer firms in the country might be partly responsible for the dwindling production in individual firms. The removal of 1.4 million m ~ of timber every year according to a study by the Forestry Research Institute in 1992 can be expected for an indefinite period based on a felling cycle in excess of 60 years. The use and prolific growth of other secondary and less preferred species in the timber industry to maintain production levels is also worth mentioning. There is a recommended annual allowable cut (AAC) of timber from Ghanaian forests for both export and domestic consumption, which is about 1.0 x 106 m 3. This figure does not include the vast amount of wood left in the forest as branches, stump, defective log and fallen parts of standing trees. Forest Products Inspection Bureau, (FPIB) reported in 1993 that out o f 805,665m 3 of log equivalent processed, 517,845m 3 went to waste representing some 51.8% of the annual allowable cut. According to a UNDP/WORLD BANK Energy Sector Management Assistance Project on Sawmill Residue Utilisation in 1988, solids account for 79% whilst sawdust accounts for 21% of residues produced. More than half of the industrial wood residue is used off-site. Of the residue used off-site, about 28% is used directly as firewood for food preparation and about 70% converted to charcoal in earth mound kilns. The bark, wood off-cuts, slabs and edgings are considered as a free fuel and in most eases have an opportunity cost and are sold as domestic or industrial fuel or as construction material. In contrast, sawdust and shavings generated as a by-product in considerable amounts are usually considered a waste material and pose a disposal problem and can constitute fire hazards. They often have a negative value as resources are employed to burn the material on site or transport for disposal elsewhere. The common method of disposal by burning causes a great deal of pollution and is a menace to the general public.

Agricultural Residue And Other Wastes

Agriculture is the backbone o f economic and social development in Ghana and this sector provides employment for a large percentage o f the population. All kinds o f

tropical crops are in cultivation and residues such as maize cobs, rice husks, palm branches, shells and nut are major potential fuel used in many parts of the country. They are normally popular fuels that burn rapidly and well and are usually used in relatively small quantities to supplement or augment ignition when the main fuel is forest wood or charcoal. There are many instances where they are used exclusively for heating purposes such as in traditional palm oil processing, fish smoking, small scale smelting and palm kernel oil processing. Table 1 below shows the production of some major crops and their residue in Ghana in 1990.

Table 1: Production of Some Major Agricultural Residues in Ghana. Total Crop Production '000 tonnes 553 Maize Cob Oil Palm Shells 429 Paddy Rice Husk 81 Sorghum Stalk 136 Millet Stalk 75 Groundnut Shell 113 1,387 Total Source: Letus Power Plant, Hagan, 1997. Crop Residue Residue Production (t/t crop) 1.00 0.45 0.23 1.00 2.00 0.5 Residue Production '000 tonnes 553 193 19 136 150 56 1,107

Another form of energy that can be derived from agricultural waste in the form of animal (and human) waste is biogas. Biogas is the product (mainly methane) of the biological action of certain bacteria on organic matter such as dung. The resulting combustible gaseous product could be used like LPG in stoves for cooking, gas lamps for lighting and be used to provide motive power for water pumping and grain milling applications.
IMPLEMENTED PROJECTS AND STUDIES

The over-dependence of majority of the population on charcoal and fuelwood as energy sources has brought in its wake the threat of deforestation and desertification in many parts of the country. With woodfuels responsible for over 70% of the country's energy demand [MOME, 1998 Annual Report], the sustainability of this biomass resource is high on the agenda of all and sundry. The number of projects and studies in the country that are aimed at determining effective technologies and cost effective solutions to ensure better utilisation of this resource are many. Many of the projects implemented gave good results but suffered from a lot of setbacks and had to be suspended or halted along the project life. Some of these setbacks have been addressed and there are currently a lot of projects at least in the pilot phase that are being well managed and have some promising future. The Renewable Energy Development Unit under the Ministry of Mines and Energy alone undertook ten (10) projects under Biomass and Solar/Wind Energy programmes in 1998.

Unfortunately many of the projects (those already implemented as well as those underway) are not really documented and information had to be sought from some informants of the individual projects for the preparation of this report. Where documentation exists, a quick review is done and evaluation of the project done by interview with some resource persons from the project. The main biomass technologies and studies are discussed below.

Pyrolysis Technology
To demonstrate pyrolysis (the thermal conversion of organic materials in the absence of air to produce charcoal and gases) as a feasible means of providing alternative fuels in Ghana and other developing countries, a pyrolytic plant was set up in Kumasi in 1980. The feasibility study for the plant was jointly conducted by personnel from the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), Ghana, The Technology and Consultancy Centre (TCC) of the University of Science and Technology, Ghana and Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) in the USA. GIT had already done some initial work on Pyrolysis and the BRRI made a request to the USAID for assistance to set up this plant as part of the research and development effort to find alternative fuel oil for brick kilns. The basic design was provided by GIT and a prototype pyrolytic reactor that is fed on sawdust and wood shavings was fabricated by the visiting and other personnel from BRRI and TCC. All items with the exception of gas blowers, measuring instruments and an electric transformer were fabricated locally. Some modification was done to the original design and four pyrolytic reactors and ancillary equipment was produced, installed and commissioned by the team in 1980. The demonstration plant was sited near the BRRI with the primary aim of providing alternative fuel oil for a brick kiln. The products of the pyrolytic plant - oil, combustible gases and powdered charcoal- are good substitutes for wood as domestic and industrial fuel and were intended to have been used as such. The design capacity of the plant was six-tonne sawdust per 3 - shift day with powdered charcoal and oil yields of 25% and 18% respectively. The plant in practice yielded 6% to 13% depending on the moisture content of the feed and how efficiently the reactor temperature was controlled [Hagan, 1985]. The demonstration plant was not very successful and the plant was finally been shut down. Problems encountered included poor supply cycle of raw materials, inefficient drying of sawdust and manual process control leading to low yields. Lack of funds for major repairs and modification was also a major problem. A well planned management team involving the organised participation of potential commercial users with a good technical support was seen as the solution to achieving a self sustaining plant which could give a payback of about three years.

Improved Cookstoves Technology

There have been many attempts to infiltrate the Ghanaian market with various designs of improved cookstoves and disseminate the technology in Ghana. Design of cookstoves depends on the form of biomass providing the energy. Fuels with

improved designs of cookstove so far include firewood, charcoal and sawdust. There are differences between stoves used in the rural, urban and institutions or commercial ventures. Use of firewood is predominant in the rural areas and as one travels into the urban areas there is a shift to charcoal. Stoves in use in rural areas are normally adaptable to using more than one form of biomass such as wood and agricultural wastes. Firewood is used widely in the rural areas. The traditional firewood stove is normally at no cost to the user and there are a lot of inefficiencies. One stove fits any size of pot and the intensity of the fire controlled by adding or removing fuel from the stove. The fuel is normally not bought but collected free of charge from the forest or farms. Urban stoves are normally single-fuel devices. Charcoal is a very important fuel for urban areas and is normally purchased rather than collected. Charcoal is the predominant domestic fuel for 69% of urban households in Ghana [Nketia et. al., 1988]. Cookstove designs in Ghana to date are normally targeted at urban dwellers. This has probably been due to the higher income levels of this group o f people and the fact that they are already buying inefficient cookstoves. Improved charcoal stoves are the most widely disseminated cookstove technology. Sawdust stove designs are also finding their way into the Ghanaian market although there are some few problems that would need to be addressed. Very little has been done on improved cookstoves fuelled on firewood.

Improved Charcoal Stoves Improved charcoal stoves are high efficiency stoves that saves fuel and money as heat to be lost is minimised by some form of insulation. The Ministry of Mines and Energy in their quest to promote the use of a more efficient cookstove developed the "Ahibenso" improved charcoal stove in 1989. It has savings of about 35% - 40% o f charcoal over the traditional coalpot, has an efficiency of 39% and a payback period of 6 months. Dissemination of the stove started in 1992 and more than 30,000 pieces of stove are known to have been developed and sold by local artisans to residents of Accra and the other regional capitals [MOME, Annual report, 1998].
The University of Science and Technology is also known to have a few designs of improved cookstoves fuelled on charcoal, firewood or sawdust. Many of these designs are from student projects and were not commercialised. The Mechanical Engineering Department has performed many tests on MOME's cookstoves to verify the efficiencies among other things.

Sawdust Cookstoves The Agricultural Engineering Department is known to have developed on commercial basis two designs of sawdust stoves. One design is fuelled on only sawdust and used for domestic cooking and water heating. There is a modified design on this that has a water heating tank component such that a good percentage o f the excess heat that is to be lost is recaptured and used to heat water in the tank. The other design can be fuelled on both sawdust and charcoal depending on the heat requirement.
Sawdust stove design by the Agricultural Engineering Department started in 1983 and the technology was introduced at a fair organised at the German Goethe Institute in Accra in the same year. The two principal designs were also presented at INDUTECH

1984 and all stoves sent for the fair were sold out. According to a technician at the Agricultural Engineering workshop, over 5,000 sawdust stoves have been sold out by the department since.
Other Stoves

Designs of cookstoves have been considered for the pyrolytic plant at BRRI in Kumasi. The energy situation in the country made it worthwhile in assessing the utilisation of the by-products as energy sources and the cookstove technology was adapted to bum pulverised char, particularly for domestic cooking. The technology is only effective in the urban areas where income levels are not so low and where stoves are already being bought (regardless of its efficiency). About 30,000 Ahibenso and 5,000 sawdust stoves are known to have been disseminated. Benefits of improved stoves range from savings in amount of fuel to reduced cooking time, reduced accidental burns and cleaner and more hygienic cooking conditions. Problems with sawdust and other improved cookstoves are principally lack of funds for promoting agencies, social acceptance of these stoves and poorly organised strategy for the marketing of these.
Biomass - Fired D ~ . ers Technology

Some designs of fuelwood (from the forest and sawmills) drying units for agricultural products such as maize, beans and "konkonte" have been disseminated in Ghana. The design, manufacture and installation is by a local artisan who also provides after sales service. The local artisan is a technician at the Agricultural Engineering Department at KNUST and does these as a private venture. He has developed two drying units so far. One of the products is used by a poultry farmer for drying maize and feed for chickens. The other unit is owned by the manufacturer who does drying of agricultural products on commercial basis.
Briquetting Technology/

Biomass suitable for briquetting in Ghana includes residues from the wood industries, rubbish, charcoal residues and other combustible waste products. The principal aim of briquetting pulverised solid fuel is to beneficiate the fuel by providing a resultant size that can be more readily handled and utilised in conventional and other stoves. Attempts at briquette production are as old as attempts at cookstove technology. The BRRI has been involved in briquetting investigation of their pyrolytic by-product of char for quite sometime. The char briquettes that got developed were satisfactory fuel for grilling and drying purposes. The most advanced project in Ghana on briquetting is probably the sawdust briquetting plant of 2,200 tonnes/year capacity that was established by a Taiwanese entrepreneur and a Ghanaian partner in Akim - Oda in 1984. The Plant, Chaowus Limited was producing uncarbonised sawdust briquettes from sawdust obtained at no cost from sawmills in the Akim - Oda area. The plant had a labour force of about 24 men 6 of which were skilled or semi-skilled.

A new sawdust briquetting plant is known to be in operation in Kumasi. The briquettes have not as yet entered the market, and specimen products are still being tested at the Agricultural Engineering Department, KNUST. There are also plans by the management of the new plant to design a special cookstove that would be fuelled on the briquettes to be produced. The use of the briquettes developed at the BRRI for general domestic cooking was inhibited by the fact that they were not strong enough to support large cooking pots without disintegrating. The crushing strength thus needed to be improved. The generally high price of the produced briquettes were another problem that hindered widespread use of the briquettes in the domestic sector [Hagan, 1994]. Demand for the sawdust briquettes from Chaowus Limited was very high and far outstripped the supply. As a result of operational inefficiencies, however the actual production was only 1,100 tonnes/year. The sawdust drying capacity was woefully inadequate and the presses were often idle 30% of the working day due to unavailability of dry sawdust. There was no proper storage facility for the sawdust which was kept in the open and exposed to rain. The flash tube dryer used in the factory was also not insulated and in general the plant suffered from poor management as far as production and marketing was concerned. The plant finally closed down in 1989, 5 years after being set up. The briquettes were more marketable as a fuel for industrial purposes (brick makers and bakers were the major customers) than as a household fuel. For one thing, the briquettes produced were not carbonised and as such required special stoves, which were not available and too expensive anyway. They also did not catch up too well with the household sector as a result of competition from charcoal and fuelwood which cost less. The briquetting plant at Akim-Oda has provided important pointers relating to the feasibility, design and operation of such plants and the subsequent marketing and use of the products in the country. Evaluation of the plant could led to several improvements that could be effected in the operations to yield overall productivity while simultaneously reducing plant-operating cost.

Charcoal Production Technology

A UNDP/National Energy Board Project on "The Charcoal Cycle in Ghana - A Baseline Study" completed in 1988 set out to provide baseline data on various aspects of the charcoal cycle in Ghana. The study successfully provided a data necessary for a comprehensive national woodfuels policy to check the rising cost of energy and the pace of environmental degradation to the forest resource. A broader study also by the UNDP/World Bank in 1988 estimated that an 80% increase in charcoal production is achievable in the Kumasi area alone with the use of improved technology such as beehive brick kilns. Several recommendations including proper organisation of all charcoalers, treeplanting programmes, establishment of wood plantations specifically for charcoal production etc. were made at the end of the UNDP/NEB study. Efforts to date on improved kiln technology in Ghana indicate that the best approach to achieving any

significant improvement in charcoal production is not to introduce newer technologies but to help charcoalers get a better understanding of their present method of carbonising. The difference in efficiencies between the newer and the old earth mound technologies are seen to be quite marginal. There are however other contradictory results from other studies.

Bio2as Technology
A number of interesting projects that are on-going include: MOME's biotoilet at Ofori-Panin Secondary school: Initiated in 1996, this facility produces gas for lighting the toilet and its surrounds. MOME and IIR's demonstration at Appolonia: Gas produced is used for direct cooking in 27 homes as well being used together with diesel in a mini-grid producing 12.5 kWel. A 100m3 digester capacity plant utilizing human waste to be commissioned by Guiness Ghana Limited and Water for Life (UK). Gas generated is to be used for community lighting, cooking in a local school and used to run a community cornmill. Biogas could facilitate decentralised electricity generation as well as serving as a low cost waste recycling process. Studies in 1994 indicated that production ofbiogas for electricity generation was 14 times as much as production from hydro sources and with the present tariffs this studies need to be revisited. The use ofbiogas as fuel for cooking is not favoured by many.

Cogeneration Technoloev
Two sawmills -AT&P in Samreboi and STP in Kumasi - have been reported to be producing electricity and power using their processing waste. Other progress in this area is mainly in the form of studies to go into commercial power production mainly from sawmill waste and agricultural residues. Studies to date include "Potential For Cogeneration from Wood residues: case Study of Three Cities In Ghana" by Dr. E. C. Quaye, "Prefeasibility Study on Letus Power Plant" by Essel Ben Hagarg and and "Prefeasibility Study on a Wood Waste Power Plant for MOW" by KITE. The cheap nature of electricity tariffs prevailing in the country until recently has been responsible for the virtual absence of this technology in the country. All studies to date indicate that the economics of the technology are very encouraging and need to be explored. KITE's study in 1999 established that Maxwell Owusu Timbers could generate 1 MWe~ from all their generated residues. The internal rate of returns achievable is 21 -27% with a discounted payback of 5 - 7 years under two considered scenario. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS It has been established that biomass is the most usable and perhaps the most important renewable energy source in the country at present. The government, decision makers

and other stakeholders in the country have realised the importance of the biomass resource and have been responsible for attempts to have the resource sustained through a number of efforts and projects. Many of the biomass technologies that are available have been tried with mixed results and experiences. The reviews of past and on-going RETs in the biomass sector considered under this study as well as the changing economic situation and national issues have indicated that three broad RETs - Improved Charcoal Kilns, Sawdust Briquettes and Biogas Technologies - would need to be focused on and detailed analysis done if the limited resources available are to find optimum use. The selected RETs were chosen on the basis of their commercial viability, job creation opportunities, environmental benefits and available technologies. Detailed analysis of the chosen RETs would need to be done to get them more thoroughly assessed and to learn from their experiences. Surveys of producers and users and interviews with key informants directly involved with the RETs (eg. Project Managers) would have to be made and in some cases project sites visited to get the first hand information instead of relying on secondary literature on the project. REFERENCES 1. Atakora S. B., Brew-Hammond A., 1999, Availability of Wood Residues for Cogeneration in Ghana 2. Hagan E. B., 1985, Pyrolysis of Wood Shavings and Sawdust - A review of the demonstration project in Ghana 3. Hagan E. B., 1994, Production of Sawdust Briquettes in Kumasi 4. Hagan E. B., 1997, Pre-feasibility study on proposed Letus Power Plant 5. KITE, 1999, Energy Use in some peri-urban areas in Kumasi 6. Ministry of Mines and Energy, 1998, Annual Report 7. Nketiah K. S. et. al., 1988, The charcoal Cycle in Ghana - A baseline study 8. Nketiah K. S., 1992, The Prospects for Commercial Charcoal Production from logging Residues in Ghana. 9. UNDP/World Bank, ESMAP Project, 1988, Sawmill Residue Utilisation Study