Ghana initiates moves to develop bio-fuel industry

Kumasi, July 22, GNA - The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in partnership with the Energy Technology Research Group of the Southampton University, United Kingdom (UK), has commenced research into the production of bio-fuel in Ghana.

Ms Sherry Ayittey, The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, said the initiative is to help promote energy diversification and security in Sub-Saharan Africa and reduce dependence on crude oil to enable the Region to conserve foreign exchange earnings.

She said this in an address read for her at the closing session of a three-day international workshop on developing cost-effective and environmentally friendly bio-fuel, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

It brought together the academia, scientists, technologists, industrialists, and policy makers from Ghana, Asia and Europe.

Topics discussed included "second generation bio-fuels based on biomass pyrolysis technology", "computational modeling of biomass fast pyrolysis" and "micro-algae as biomass for energy conversion, scope and possibilities."

Ms Ayittey said that initial research in the country focused on the use of food and energy crops as feedstock for the bio-fuel industry.

She said that it has been established that the use of these feedstock for energy could compromise the nation's food security and have socio-economic and environmental implications.

Ms Ayittey said given the abundance of various types of agricultural residues, including maize and rice straw, husks, millet and sorghum straw, the nation had a better chance of developing a comprehensive cost-effective and environmentally friendly bio-fuel.

The ongoing research, she said, would take into consideration pyrolysis technique application - the thermo-chemical process that converts organic materials into usable fuels.

Dr Abdulai Baba Salifu, Director General of the Council, said that he was hopeful that the bio-fuel industry would help to provide rural employment towards poverty reduction and create market for agricultural residues.