KNUST makes progress in effort to boost energy supply

Researchers at the Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), say they are making progress in their effort to help boost the nation’s energy supply.

Dr. Michael Adjaloo, Director of the Centre, said they had developed fuel from the Jatropha seed.

This, he indicated, was significant because it would provide the people with access to improved renewable energy.

He said the TCC had successfully installed a complete Jatropha energy facility at Kparigu in the West Mamprusi District and this comes with a decorticator, oil expeller and diesel engines.

Dr. Adjaloo told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that Jatropha oil was being extracted, processed and used as fuel for electricity generation, cooking and soap-making by the people in the area.

The breakthrough was a product of collaborative work - involving the Centre, the Food and Agriculture Ministry, Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Research (CSIR), and New Energy, an NGO.

He said the project was coordinated by ‘Nucleo Ricera Desertificazione’ of the University of Sassari in Sardinia, Italy.

The Centre had been engaged in the training of community members in processing Jatropha oil and enterprise development in Jatropha-based products, he added.

He spoke of plans to extend the technology to Nasia, Wungu, and Yama, all in the Mamprusi West, and other parts of the country.