Assessment of biomass briquette energy potential from agricultural residues in Cameroon

Biomass briquettes made from agricultural residues should be strongly recommended for household cooking in countries with high agricultural potential like Cameroon. This paper aims to evaluate the energy recoverable from crop residues by briquette manufacturing and to analyze the benefits and barriers of briquetting conversion of these residues in the country. Agricultural residues considered in this investigation are generated by rice, banana/plantain, maize, groundnut, cotton, coconut, sugarcane, palm oil, coffee, and cocoa. The residues generated by these crops are husks, shells, bagasse, leaves, peels, stalks, straw, and stems. The estimation was done using the Residues-to-Product Ratio method, and the results show that the annual crop residues production is 46,236,156 tons. The briquetting conversion of these residues could produce 7,706,260 tons of biomass briquettes with an annual energy potential of around 106 PJ year(-1). It is concluded that the availability of agricultural residues in that country provides an important potential for briquette production.