Analysis of Agricultural Waste Briquettes as a Sustainable Charcoal Substitute in Kenyan Markets

In Kenya, overdependence on wood has caused a deforestation ban to preserve natural resources, but this has put a strain on people's energy sources, especially for cooking charcoal. There is a need to manufacture a sustainable, clean burning, cheap, and appropriate charcoal-substitute to fill this market gap. Certain agricultural waste and byproducts such as sugarcane bagasse and corn cobs could be pyrolyzed to make a viable alternative charcoal briquette based on their fixed carbon values. The feasibility of a local venture producing these briquettes was analyzed for Kenya, and for other Sub-Saharan African countries. It was determined that only Eswatini's charcoal demand could be completely met with their agricultural waste. Although Kenya's charcoal demand could not be completely met with agricultural waste, various sectors within the market could be fulfilled, with restaurants and poultry farms being able to fully transition to bio-waste briquettes, 76% of rural households, 73% of schools, and 60% of urban households. An estimation of the cost of briquette production was performed with sugarcane bagasse as the only feedstock. While the briquettes cannot be priced as pre-deforestation ban levels of KSh 85, ventures can be profitable at an acceptable selling price of KSh 87.63 per 4 kg tin.

Introduction

Biomass fuel is a widely used and produced energy source around the world, specifically in Africa. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimated that over half of the world's wood is used for production of fuel. Despite the increasing availability of alternative fuels like electricity, natural gas, etc., carbonized wood charcoal still dominates the markets in many countries. In Kenya, forests supply over 75% of the country's overall energy requirements1. Around 82% of urban households and 34% of rural households rely on charcoal as cooking fuel2, and over the past few decades, charcoal usage has increased by 64%3.