Biofuel Plant in Nigeria
A reader from Nigeria sent me a business plan on an ethanol plant that would provide a far cleaner way for West Africans to cook their food than their current approach, which is a combination of kerosene and wood gathered from rapidly disappearing forests.
There is no doubt that Nigeria, where 98% of the people are incredibly poor, and do, in fact, cook this way, represents a huge opportunity to improve the eco-friendliness of the average kilowatt-hour of energy generated and consumed. Currently, their energy comes almost exclusively from burning hydrocarbons, with no emission controls whatsoever. In fact, this is one of the points I made in my concept of “hitting the broad side of the energy barn.”
But, as I told him, I’m not a big fan of biofuel. It’s one thing to put numbers on paper and make certain projections; in the real world, however, it becomes far more expensive than most people realize, and it tends to have horrific unintended environmental consequences. I went on to say that I’m hoping to see Africa develop renewable energy in distributed, off-grid/micro-grid settings.
But I’m wondering if this is the equivalent of saying, “Let them eat cake.” Am I being short-sighted here?
short sighted on the solution to African energy problems?
Yes and no.
IMO, ethanol is not the answer. It involves a conversion step that requires energy. The final product is a clean fuel but the infrastructure is not there to make it a go.
Solar may be part of the solution with those parabolic reflecting ovens that I recall having been used successfully in India. Unfortunately these ovens are not an on-demand sort of device. Our USA cooks would not put up with this sort of cooking device on a day after day basis. The bush people might but I think they can do better. There are efficient micro cooking stoves that have been invented for use in 3rd world countries that decrease the amount of wood consumed.
Perhaps a combination of solar for sunny days and these micro stoves for the rainy days or evenings might make a difference in their lives and in their impact on the planet.
L
What’s wrong with using compressed Baggasse (sugar cane residue after the sugar has been extracted for food)
Baggasse can be compressed into pellets which are very suitable for burning in an efficient biomass stove without the need to convert sugar to alcohol. That way, you use a by product for cooking rather than taking crop land and using it to grow fuel!
An energy technology that is not appropriate in some circumstances may be appropriate in other circumstances. Whether ethanol for cooking in Nigeria is a good idea I don’t know. If the ethanol can be produced from material that would otherwise be wasted, it could be a good idea.
Kerosene stoves in developing countries are responsible for many serious accidents. Often people use them on the floor in a house because they have no other place to use them. Sometimes they are knocked over and start fires or cause scalds from the water they are heating. Poorly made ones sometimes explode. Sometimes the kerosene is contaminated with gasoline and that can cause an explosion. The fumes from burning kerosene or wood are also unhealthful. They really do need safer cooking methods, but whether ethanol would be safer is questionable.
Solar ovens are good in some circumstances. However, if people want to eat their main meal in the evening, they may not be practical. Also, they cannot be used in cloudy weather.
If electricity were cheap and plentiful, they could use electric stoves which would be far safer.
To me it depends on the biomass source for the ethanol plant. If the source is waste anyway, it may be better to torrify the biomass and use it for cooking rather than landfilling it and have it turn into methane emissions.
It seems that the cost of ethanol might be out of the range pricewise for what Nigerians could afford.