Technical and sustainability assessment of power production system based on cotton stalk and rice husk gasification in an isolated area in Burkina Faso

摘要

Biomass gasification systems may be relevant for decentralized power generation from these residues in the isolated areas. This work deals with the analysis of both the technical and economic feasibility, and then the environmental and social impacts of a 95 kWe gasification plant project in order to generate electricity for Badara village in Burkina. Two biomasses feedstock: cotton stalk and rice husk are used. Mass and energy balances of the processes were performed to assess technical performance. Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) analysis is used to estimate the production cost of the two biomasses options. The environmental impacts were assessed by using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The results show that the valorisation of the rice husk is the solution that offers the low production cost (0.34 €/kWh) compared to cotton stalk (0.38 €/kWh) despite its low electricity efficiency (11.9% against 12.6%). Nevertheless, the use of the cotton stalks is most interesting in terms of direct job creation (9.58 full-time equivalent jobs /year against 8 full-time equivalent jobs /year). Concerning the environmental issue, the gasification of cotton stalk generates consistently higher environmental burdens than the rice husks gasification. This assessment represents an important step that could assist the policy maker to make a relevant decision for this local conditions and available resources.