Status of production, distribution and determinants of biomass briquette acceptability in Kampala City, Uganda

Abstract

Biomass briquettes have been identified as a plausible and close alternative to commonly used energy fuels such as charcoal and firewood whose prices are escalating due to the dwindling natural resource base. However, briquettes do not seem to be as popular as would be expected. This study assessed the production, distribution and acceptability of the briquettes in Kampala district. A total of 60 respondents, 50 of whom were briquette users and 10 briquette producers were sampled from five divisions of Kampala district to evaluate consumer acceptability, preference for briquette type and shape. Households and institutions were identified to be the major consumers of briquettes while community-based organizations were the major distributors of briquettes. The Chi square test of independence showed significant association between briquette acceptability and briquette attributes of substitutability and low cost (p<0,05). The Kruskal Wallis test showed that low income class people preferred non-carbonized briquettes. Gender, marital status and income level also cause variation in preference for spherical, stick and honey comb briquettes (p<0,05). The major challenges faced by briquette users in Kampala were; production of a lot of ash, frequent crushing and limited access of briquettes. The producers of briquettes were mainly challenged by regular machine breakdown, raw material scarcity and poor carbonizing units. It was concluded that briquettes have market and are generally accepted in Kampala. However, user preferences need to be taken into account by briquette produces, suitable cook stoves should be availed to users and there is need for standards to ensure quality of briquettes.

Classification of Briquettes Selection Criteria Using Principal Components Analysis Approach

“…during the analysis. Similar findings have been reported in Uganda, particularly for briquettes with spherical shapes [20]. Further probing of respondents provided the main reason for interest in spherical and pillow shapes.…”

“…These shapes were chosen because they resemble charcoal and firewood. They are consistent in size, have an excellent combustion frame over their surface area, and may release energy more quickly [20]. Besides, they are likely to be easily scaled to accommodate conventional stoves.…”

“…Although the configuration is technically inefficient in the ignition [8], briquettes in the roundness factor were strongly agreed upon by most respondents (Table 2). The majority of spherical briquettes, which fall in the roundness configuration, have been reported to be produced by hand compression, particularly by women [20]. The preference on roundness factor might also be connected to other benefits, such as the ease with which briquettes can be made at home and purchased at a lower cost.…”

“…However, apart from these researchers' efforts, there are serious limited efforts toward the marketability and acceptability of the briquettes as a green energy source for cooking [20].…”

Performance Characteristics of a Cooking Stove Improved with Sawdust as an Insulation Material

“…In Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa specifically, at least 753 million people (i.e., 80% of the population) use biomass as an energy source [12]. Uganda is one of the developing countries in Sub-Sahara where more than 90% of the country's population relies on biomass feedstocks [13][14][15]. e feedstocks are usually consumed with the use of traditional open fire (three-stone) stoves that have comparatively lower efficiency (about 15.6%) and higher fuel consumption [16,17] when compared to improved biomass cookstoves [18].…”