title: Logistics cost analysis of rice residues for second generation bioenergy production in Ghana.
abstract: This study explores the techno-economic potential of rice residues as a bioenergy resource to meet Ghana's energy demands. Major rice growing regions of Ghana have 70-90% of residues available for bioenergy production. To ensure cost-effective biomass logistics, a thorough cost analysis was made for two bioenergy routes. Logistics costs for a 5 MWe straw combustion plant were 39.01, 47.52 and 47.89 USD/t for Northern, Ashanti and Volta regions respectively. Logistics cost for a 0.25 MWe husk gasification plant (with roundtrip distance 10 km) was 2.64 USD/t in all regions. Capital cost (66-72%) contributes significantly to total logistics costs of straw, however for husk logistics, staff (40%) and operation and maintenance costs (46%) dominate. Baling is the major processing logistic cost for straw, contributing to 46-48% of total costs. Scale of straw unit does not have a large impact on logistic costs. Transport distance of husks has considerable impact on logistic costs.
authors.affiliation: CERENA/DEQ, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: pooja@cstep.in.
authors.forename: Pooja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vijay Ramamurthi
authors.affiliation: CERENA/DEQ, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cristina Fernandes
authors.affiliation: DTU Climate Centre, Systems Analysis, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sieverts Nielsen
authors.affiliation: CERENA/DEQ, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Clemente
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pedro Nunes
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005869:Ghana; D016015:Logistic Models; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels
keywords: Bioenergy; Cost analysis; Ghana; Logistic operations; Rice residues