This study assessed the economic and environmental performances of cassava waste bioenergy (CWB) [bioelectricity, thermal energy for starch drying (TESD)] generation in cassava starch facilities (CSF) using cassava stems (CS) and cassava starch wastewater (CWW) in the contexts of seven leading cassava growing countries in Africa (Angola, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania). The CWB scheme consists of Aspen Plus® simulated process for converting the CS and biogas obtained from anaerobic digestion of CWW from a 200 t starch/d CSF using a steam boiler/steam turbo-generator technology that resulted in energy self-sufficient CSF plus surplus power of 26.36 MW. The economic assessment included profitability analysis for alternate scenarios of bioelectricity prices [grid price (0.018–0.163 US$/kWh) vs bioenergy price higher than the grid's by 20%] and CS prices [diesel (5.5–29.4 US$/GJ) vs wood fuel (7.7 US$/GJ) equivalents]. The environmental assessment involved SimaPro® based gate-to-gate life cycle analysis for the CWB vs fossil energy scenarios (FES) [fuel-oil based heat & diesel-oil based electricity]. Grid prices were low for viability of the CWBs for all countries. Only Cameroon and Malawi displayed profitability under the low-cost CS plus bioenergy price scenario. Compared to the FES, except for freshwater eutrophication & ecotoxicity and water consumption, the CWB could mitigate various environmental impacts by ≈42–99%. Grid tariffs designed to recover fixed and variable costs, and feed-in-tariffs that reflect the environmental savings vs the fossils, are essential for viability of the CWBs. Considering the erratic supplies of grid power and fossil fuels in SSA due to unsustainable government policies (e.g. subsidies on grid power or fossil fuels), the CWBs could be promising alternative for energy security for stable CSF operations. At the global level, the CWBs could enhance the net environmental profiles of CSFs via the incorporated circular economy strategy of recovering waste resources (CS energy, liquid digestate and boiler ash) for reuse in the cassava cultivation and processing industries vs the current waste management scheme (i.e. anaerobic digestion of CWW for biogas for TESD generation while the liquid digestate is disposed into watercourses and CS is burnt on farms). Thus, implementation of the CWBs and austere sustainable energy policies could be promising for sustainability enhancement in cassava industries.
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