Importance of Rural Biomass Post-Harvest Waste – An Overview

Abstract

This study rather than focus on food security examines the potential in utilizing Post-Harvest Waste (P-HW) materials and their benefits to the immediate rural communities where lignocellulose waste are found in abundance. It was observed that researchers have proposed a lot of unique approaches to managing solid waste generation; with emphasis on perfect waste collection and disposal, but these approaches are very expensive considering the tight budgeting expenses Nigeria is faced with. This study shows that some rural communities experience huge post-harvest organic wastes from their farms and the cost of these losses has been estimated, which then forms a good spot to start the implementation process for this initiative. The research highlights the overview benefits of adopting microbial and pyrolysis approach in converting the lignocellulosic aspect of these waste to economically viable products that will have a direct positive impact on the immediate community. This study proposed a modified fast pyrolysis approach in the conversion process to reduce the production of pyrolytic gas and optimize the production of biochar and pyroligneous acid. Adopting these approaches will reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere when burning these waste and produce bio-products instead of synthesized chemical products that have health implications.