Techno-economic studies of an industrial biogas plant to be implemented at Kumasi Abattoir in Ghana
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Date
2021-01-20
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Scientific African
Abstract
Kumasi Abattoir is one of Ghana’s largest slaughterhouses. The Abattoir is a state-owned
facility and its main activity is the slaughtering of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. Production
takes place 7 days per week, 8 hours per day. The Government of Ghana has planned to
construct a pilot industrial biogas plant at the Abattoir to support them manage the waste
generated, but to a large extent, support green industrial development and business promotion in Ghana. This study assesses the technical and financial aspects of the pilot biogas
project with a focus on the technical solutions for biogas production from the waste, scenarios analyses for the gas usage and financial analysis of selected scenarios. Desk studies,
studies of the abattoir slaughter operations, waste fractions, energy consumption patterns
and projected energy demand as well as energy efficiency measures were all studied. Analysis of the financial data, namely; electricity bills of the abattoir, liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG) and diesel consumption costs and abattoir staff wages were also done. The main
wastes generated at the abattoir are solid waste and wastewater. The solid waste concerns mainly solid rumen content and dung, with a total quantity of about 8 tons per day.
This waste is currently disposed off at a nearby landfill. The wastewater mainly consists of
flushing water, blood and liquid rumen content, with a total quantity of some 170 tons per
day. Wastewater is currently disposed in a stream that runs at the border of the abattoir
premises, and this causes the most problems for the neighbouring communities. Total biogas potential of the combined waste components is estimated at 846 m3 per day. Energy
demand at the abattoir concerns mainly electricity, LPG and diesel. Potential energy efficiency measures include repair of an existing power factor correction system, replacement
of chillers, replacement of insulation of the cooling system, and replacement of the diesel
backup generator. Full replacement of the abattoir energy and fuel consumption would
require approximately 1448 m3 of biogas, which is 70% more than the total biogas potential of the abattoir. Even with energy efficiency measures, biogas demand would be in the order of 1250 m3/d. The abattoir uses LPG for singeing. Financial analyses show that singeing (substituting LPG) is financially the most attractive application for the biogas; the
resulting gas value is 0.46 USD/m3. Using the gas for electricity production yields some
0.10–0.18 USD/kWh (depending on the scale); using it for diesel substitution yields some
Description
Keywords
Wastewater, Solid waste, Slaughterhouse, Industrial biogas, ACE: Energy and Environmental Sustainability, University of Energy & Natural Resources, Ghana, Power