Biogas Production from Various Resources and Sustainability in Brong Ahafo Region

Abstract

The energy consumption in Ghana is deteriorating due to the increase of its population, which has enormous impact on national economy. To remedy some of these issues biogas technology appears favorable to reach sustainable energy yields without damaging the environment. Biogas production project are judged by their contribution to sustainable development, long-term viability to integrate sustainable goal. The aim of this study is To identify and characterize the various biomass resources sufficiently available for biogas generation in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. The first objective is to analyze the sustainability of biogas production in Brong Ahafo region in Ghana using sustainability indices. The second objective is to estimate the emission reduction from biogas production. The analysis tool, RETScreen software is used to determine the potential emission reduction from kitchen, abattoir, and market waste. The assessment is empirically illustrated with a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The administering of questionnaires randomly to the people in the region and the survey of biogas was used through the qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis was carried out at laboratory scales through anaerobic fermentation using the fresh cow dung for each substrate in three separate bio-digesters comprising of ingester, kitchen waste and market waste under the temperature between 27 – 35 oC. The average methane value for the ingester was 54 % with 7.24 pH content, followed by the market waste 42 % average methane with 5.74 pH content and then kitchen waste 40 % average methane with 4.55 pH content. The survey of biogas found that of the seven (7) biogas plants covered in this study, 29.0 % have been operational since their construction and 71.0 % were non-operational. Comparative analysis for the seven biogas plant project shows 83.3 %, 16.7 %, 26.7 % and 40.0 % priority for economic, technical, and environmental criteria, respectively during its implementation stages. In the study areas the use of biogas for energy production in place of wood saves 72,897 tCO2 per year from being released into the atmosphere.