Title:
Integrating Bioenergy Production Potential and Agricultural Land Use in Angola
Author(s):
Cativa, F., Rodrigues, C., Costa, J., Fernando, A.L.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
Improving access to affordable energy is critical to improving living standards in countries like Angola, and especially in the rural communities where only 30% of the population has access to electricity, Therefore, an assessment of the biomass resources potential for bioenergy in the province of Huíla, in Angola, is being conducted, to help designing effective intervention strategies for the rural energy sector of this province. Hence, the aim of this work was to integrate the bioenergy production potential from the main agricultural residues and the current agricultural land use in the province of Huíla. In this province, the most significant agricultural crops, in terms of area and biomass are maize, sorghum and millet. The preliminary analysis to the data shows that a massive amount of agricultural residues could be collected. However, the amount of biomass that can be logistically sorted and collected is much lower, only 4%. The characteristics of the different agricultural residues were evaluated (e.g. ash and nitrogen content) and different scenarios for the exploitation of this biomass were taken into account. In Scenario 1, business as usual, where the crop residues were used to produce heat in fire-pan or community stoves; in Scenario 2 options to improve the agricultural productivity were addressed as also the potential increment of agricultural area for food, based on the land availability (with the concomitant increment of crop residues); dedicated areas for bioenergy production were not considered once there is not enough food being produced in the province; in Scenario 3, different biomass processing options were evaluated given the characteristics of the different biomasses: combustion with devices with improved efficiency; transformation into solid energy carriers by torrefaction or hydrothermal carbonization; transformation into liquid energy carriers, such as bioethanol. Considering Scenario 1, circa 1.4 PJ only can be produced, with several environmental impacts associated. Considering Scenario 2, circa 2.5 PJ of energy can be produced. In Scenario 3, it was estimated that a production of 2.8 PJ could be obtained. Results show that the sustainable production of bioenergy in this province of Angola is possible and represent an opportunity, but, it also poses several challenges, e.g. investment and social acceptance.
Keywords:
agricultural residues, bioenergy, sustainability, environmental impact, Angola
Topic:
Biomass Resources
Subtopic:
Integrated biomass production for energy purposes
Event:
27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
1CO.5.1
Pages:
124 - 126
ISBN:
978-88-89407-19-6
Paper DOI:
10.5071/27thEUBCE2019-1CO.5.1
Price:
FREE
