Evaluation and Analysis of Diverse Biomass Feedstocks for Sustainable Bioenergy Production in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Energy is one of the necessary resources in the world, and developing countries like Nigeria are struggling to meet the continuous energy  demand. As a result of farming practices and the population in Northern Nigeria, a high amount of lignocellulosic and carbonaceous  biomass is produced as a waste material. However, countless types of biomasses, such as fruit, vegetable, bagasse, strain, and municipal  waste, are selected based on availability and characterised to check their energy production potential. The samples were prepared by  cyclone milling to 2 mm. Sieve analysis through sieves of size 2.36 mm, 2.00 mm, 1.18 mm, 900 µm, and 850 µm was used to obtain the  distribution of particle size with passing ranging from 60.75% to 86.80%, 47.93% to 73.95%, 12.64% to 40.54%, 11.45% to 27.46%, and 8.55%  to 22.61%, respectively. Proximate analysis was conducted and compared across the materials, including total solids, moisture content,  volatile content, ash content in percentage of the individual samples, and density in g/ml. Calorific values of the energy contents of the  materials were obtained and compared across the materials, with a maximum value (17.64 MJ/kg) for vegetable waste and a minimum  value of (8.24 MJ/kg) for maise corn stove and sorghum corn stover. Fibre content analysis was conducted; the materials’ lignin cellulose  and hemicellulose contents were evaluated and compared. The studies indicate the feasibility of generating biogas from biomass through  anaerobic digestion.