Crop residues as alternative to fuel for power generation in Rwanda

Abstract

One of the big questions that the world is facing nowadays is climate change caused by global warming due to greenhouse gases (GHG). This degradation is based on ejected gases in the atmosphere. Reduction of the use of fossil fuel as the source of energy is critical in reducing those gases and reduction of importation costs. Consideration of local resources that would be the source of energy is one of the ways. This work investigates the contribution that crop residues of rice and maize would have on energy demand in Rwanda once they are used. Historical data of yearly energy demand and production of both maize and rice have been used. Calorific values have been determined from a laboratory experiment. The results show that they can contribute about a half to the Rwandan total energy consumption. Fossil fuel can completely be replaced by crop restudies in energy generation if the maximum of residues is collected. Under constraint that only half of the residues can be collected in practice, a small value of the fossil fuel can still be used. Analysis also has shown the dependence of residues species on the calorific values.