Elephant Grass (Pennisetum purpureum): A Potential Source of Biomass for Power Generation in Ghana
Jones Abrefa Danquah *
Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, University of Cape Coast, Private Mail Bag, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Charity Odumale Roberts
Department of Languages and General Studies, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Post Office Box 214, Sunyani-B/A, Ghana.
Mark Appiah
CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, P.O.Box UP 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The Government of Ghana has introduced into its energy mix many thermal generation plants, which utilize natural gas and light crude oil to augment the electric power need of the country. However, these come with high fueling cost and frequent interruption in the supply chain. One area which has not been explored is the use of biomass for electrical power generation. Pennisetum purpureum K. Schumach grows in the wild as grass in the dry semideciduous forest zone and the distributional range covers an area of approximately 2.1 million hectares. The grass has potential as a biofuel feedstock for power generation. This paper gives an overview of the potential use of Pennisetum purpureum as a cheap and readily available source of biomass or biofuel for electric power generation in Ghana.
Keywords: Elephant Grass, biomass, biofuel, electric power