KNUSTSpace >
Research Articles >
College of Science >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/13573
|
Title: | A Review of Commercial Biogas Systems and Lessons for Africa |
Authors: | Kemausuor, Francis Adaramola, Muyiwa S. Morken, John |
Keywords: | anaerobic digestion commercial biogas systems bioenergy electricity Africa |
Issue Date: | 2018 |
Abstract: | Many African countries have vast biomass resources that could serve as feedstock for
methane production through the adoption of commercial biogas plants. However, due to many
inhibiting factors, these resources are under-utilised. This article reviews commercial biogas
systems that treat organic waste from municipalities, large livestock farms, large plantations/crop
farms, food/beverage production facilities, and other industries, to identify essential lessons
which African countries could use to develop/disseminate such biogas systems. The review
identified the critical barriers to commercial biogas development to be high initial capital costs,
weak environmental policies, poor institutional framework, poor infrastructure and a general lack of
willpower to implement renewable energy policies and set challenging targets. In African countries
where feed-in-tariffs, quota obligations and competitive bidding programmes have been instituted,
implementation has been poor, and most state-owned utilities have been unsupportive. Using
knowledge from more experienced countries such as Germany and China, some key lessons have were
identified. Among the key lessons is the need to institute and enforce environmental management
policies to ensure that waste from medium and large livestock farms and industries are not disposed
of indiscriminately, a tool China has recently used to promote commercial biogas plants to a high
degree of success. |
Description: | This article is available at doi:10.3390/en11112984 |
URI: | 10.3390/en11112984 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/13573 |
Appears in Collections: | College of Science
|
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
|