Dryland Bioenergy Programme
Description
Approximately 630 million individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa, 75% of whom reside in rural areas, lack electricity access. Forecasts predict a twofold increase in electricity demand by 2030, which significantly impacts economic progression.
Predominantly, attempts to address this issue have targeted fossil fuels, hydropower, and solar power. However, dedicated bioenergy crops, particularly those thriving in semi-arid climates, offer substantial renewable energy potential.
Succulent plants exhibiting Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) - a highly efficient photosynthetic process - pose significant prospects for bioenergy production. Cultivation of these crops on marginal or abandoned farmland could yield valuable energy via advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD), avoiding competition with prime agricultural lands used for food crops. With nearly half of the African continent classified as dryland, the potential for such underutilised land is considerable.
Despite a strong theoretical case for succulent plants as a bioenergy source in Africa's semi-arid regions, empirical evidence demonstrating practical feasibility is scarce.
The interdisciplinary Dryland Bioenergy team, comprising three academic staff members from varying departments and a local renewable energy firm, Tropical Power Ltd, is exploring this avenue.
This programme's core objectives are:
- Establishing CAM plants' suitability for AAD, contrasting laboratory and field studies with crops grown on a Kenyan trial plot.
- Designing a cost-effective bioreactor with a 10- to 30-fold improved efficiency over conventional AD for AAD.
- Generating Africa-wide and country-specific AAD implementation potential assessments, considering environmental and social factors. This involves community-level participatory appraisals of implementation and uptake hurdles and opportunities.
About 800 million individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa primarily rely on firewood and charcoal for heating and cooking. Therefore, even modest biogas production would yield substantial benefits, including health improvements and lessened demand on remaining vegetation for fuel.
This could significantly transform the agriculture-energy nexus in Africa, supplying renewable energy to smallholder farmers and rural communities without grid electricity.
Offers funding
No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.
Contact details
Old Indian Institute Building
34 Broad Street
Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX1 3BD
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University of Oxford
Oxford
University of Oxford
Oxford
Last modified:
2024-05-31 15:25:45