The Prospects and Challenges of Waste Wood Biomass Conversion to Bioelectricity in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is challenged with the twin problems of solid waste management and insufficient power generation. Becasuse of the lack of better management approaches, wood wastes particularly sawdusts are variously disposed of along road sides and rivers, abandoned at the sawmills or openly combusted. These practices negatively impact humans in addition to the loss of useful energy into the environment. The Federal Government of Nigeria therefore plans to install two 1 MWe waste wood biomass to electricity plants in Nigeria. But Nigeria has no previous experience in the operation of a wood gasification power plant. Hence, the aim of this paper is to highlight the prospects of wood gasification and their potential challenges and suggest ways of handling these barriers.