Energy analysis for efficient mechanisation of palm oil extraction in Ghana: Targeting circular economy

Abstract

Challenges related to sustainability, energy access, process efficiency, and cost of production in the extraction of palm oil make its energy analysis necessary in Ghana. This study determined the energy consumption patterns in palm oil mills in Ghana to ultimately enhance system efficiency and assess optimum production costs. In this study, data was collected among Palm Oil Processing facilities in Bono, Ashanti, Eastern and Western regions. The results found the average total energy consumption for the manual, semi-mechanised and highly mechanised extraction systems to be 122.5, 112.9, and 82.4 kJ/kg respectively. The net potential electricity from oil palm residue was estimated to be 299 kJ/kg which can be used for other operations. The mean total energy for the oil drying and pressing stages are identical across the systems. The minimum mean total energy is required at the threshing stage of the oil palm production process with which the manual system has the highest amount of energy whilst, the highly mechanized system requires the least average total energy for threshing. Policy makers should target increased level of mechanization since highly mechanized processing plants recorded lower energy demands.