An investigation into some crop residues generation from farming activities and inherent energy potentials in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

In recent time, interest in energy generation from biological materials has been on the increase because of its environmental benefits. The use of these waste materials as feedstock in energy generation plants has been used in many industrial processes. The availability of these wastes is key to the sustainability of such a process. Resource assessment is an important step for planning and implementation of any energy workflow. This research studied the quantity of crop residues generated from farming of some crops in Kwara State and the potential energy contents inherent in them which when properly harnessed can help to alleviate the energy challenge in the state. The crops investigated were rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and sugar cane. Relevant data were collected by visiting major farm establishments in the state and also the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MANR). Obtained production outputs for two farming seasons were analysed using the corresponding residue-to-crop ratios (RPR) to obtain the quantity of wastes generated and the corresponding unit conversion ratio for biomass energy content to obtain the inherent energy potentials. A total crop output of 2531.46 ton was obtained from the study with an estimated residue of 6047.02 tons, and inherent energy potential of 109201 GJ.

Assessment of Biomass Utilization for Energy Production From Agricultural Residue

“…land that is not suitable or no longer suitable for conventional commercial agriculture. : Fernandez, Batterham, 1995;Smil, 1999;Scholz et al, 2001;Žaltauskas, Ramoška, 2002;Yevich, Logan, 2002;Unal, Alibas 2007;Wright et al, 2009;Clarke et al, 2011;Sakalauskas, 2012;Iye, Bilsborrow, 2013;Alhassan et al, 2019 Biomass energy plants potential from secondary residues derived in 2020 years was about 1,075 thousand tons per year. The highest traditional energy plants potential from secondary agricultural residue biomass was about 760,041 tons per year.…”

Production of Fuel Briquettes from a Blend of Corncob and Rice Husk

“…For corn cobs, the crop to residue ratio is 0.273. (Alhassan et al, 2019). It is a biomass feedstock with direct potential as an energy source, making it appropriate for the production of biomass briquettes.…”

Biomass Valorization to Bioenergy: Assessment of Biomass Residues’ Availability and Bioenergy Potential in Nigeria

“…The data for the livestock population from 2008-2018 was obtained from FAOSTAT [20]. The residue considered was excreta (dung) estimated for each livestock following Equations ( 9) and (10).…”

“…However, their study did not relate the estimated energy potential to a specific energy carrier. Alhassan et al [10] used five crop residues obtained in Kwara State, Nigeria, to estimate the energy potentials for power solutions. In their assessment, they used theoretical potential values rather than the technical potential for these residues.…”