Geographic information systems (GIS) approach for assessing the biomass energy potential and identification of appropriate biomass conversion technologies in Nigeria

Abstract

Energy is a vital component of Nigeria's socio-economic development. However, the supply of clean energy in the country has been a great challenge, especially in driving the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG-7 and SDG-13, affordable & clean-energy, and climate action, respectively. Meanwhile, several studies have shown that the country is appropriately situated where it could benefit from diverse biomass resources. In this work, the energy potentials of biomass have been assessed for clean energy generation in Nigeria. This became necessary as the country desperately needs a low-emission pathway to close the energy supply and demand gap. Specifically, the focuses is on biomass energy from forest and crop residues. This is significant as the waste from forests and cropping can be utilized for sustainable energy generation. Key findings show that an estimated energy potential of 3477.02 and 685.90 PJ/yr are possible for crops and forest residues, respectively; evidence that is supported by data from the Geographical Information System on the platform of ArcGIS. The crop residues that could significantly drive biomass energy utilization in Nigeria are cassava, maize, sorghum, rice paddy and oil palm. In addition, forest residues are mostly wood fuel (non-coniferous), wood charcoal, saw logs, and veneer logs (non-coniferous). This study also presents the technologies for biomass-to-energy conversion. It suggests policy pathways to ambitiously drive existing bioenergy policies to increase penetration of biomass energy in the country.