Rjeas Research J ournal in Engineering and Applied Sciences 1(3) 149-155 Rjeas

Emerging Academy Resources (2012) (ISSN: 2276-8467)

www.emergingresource.org
149

A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF BIOMASS RESOURCES AND BIOFUEL
PRODUCTION POTENTIAL IN NIGERIA

Edirin. B. Agbro
1
and Nosa. A. Ogie
2

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun.
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun
Corresponding Author: E dirin. B . Agbro
___________________________________________________________________________
ABSTRACT
Biomass is the major energy source in Nigeria contributing about 78 % of Nigeria primary energy supply. In this
paper, a comprehensive review of biomass resources and biofuel production potential in Nigeria is given. The
study adopted a desk review of existing literatures on major energy crops production in Nigeria. A brief
description of the current biofuel developmental activities in the country is also given. A variety of biomass
resources exist in the country in large quantities with opportunities for expansion. Biomass resources considered
include agricultural crops, agricultural crop residues, forestry resources, municipal solid waste and animal
waste. Agricultural crop residues included those produced from the processing of crops like cassava, rice, maize,
yam, oil palm, millet, groundnut and sorghum. It is concluded that given the large availability of biomass
resources in Nigeria there is immense potential for biofuel production fromthese biomass resources. With the
very high potential for biofuel production, the government as well as private investors are therefore encouraged
to take practical steps towards investing in agriculture for the production of energy crops and the establishment
of biofuel-processing plants in Nigeria.
Emerging Academy Resources

KEYWORDS: Biomass resources, Agricultural crops, Waste, Biofuel, Nigeria
________________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Currently, 85% of the worlds energy demand is met
by combustion of fossil fuels which are depletable.
The global energy demand is expected to grow by
about 50% by 2025, the major part of this increase
coming from rapidly emerging countries. Given the
growing world population, increasing energy demand
per capital and global warming, the need for a long
term alternative energy supply is clear (Vancoillie
and Verholst, 2010; Sandia National Laboratories,
2010). Biofuels offer the advantage of coming from
large, mainly under-utilised biomass resources that
are sustainable and renewable in a closed carbon
cycle that reduces environmental input (Sandia
National Laboratories, 2010). Biofuels apply to solid,
liquid or gaseous fuel produced from biological
materials (biomass) which can be used for the
generation of power, heat or fuel for motive power.
(Ugochukwu, 2010; Agba et al., 2010; Bamikole et
al., 2008; Leo et al., 2007). The biomass constitutes
the feedstock destined for conversion into biofuels.
The use of biomass as a source of energy has two
main advantages: First is its nearly unlimited
availability and second is the fact that it can be used
without essential damage to the environment. In
addition, biomass resources are considered renewable
as they are naturally occurring and by comparison
with other renewable energy resources such as solar
and wind, biomass is a storable resource, inexpensive
and has favourable energetic efficiency. Biomass
resources available in the country include:
Agricultural crops, agricultural crop residues, fuel
wood and forestry residues, waste paper, sawdust and
wood shavings, residues from food industries, energy
crops, animal dung/poultry droppings, industrial
effluent/municipal solid waste. (Ugochukwu, 2010 ;
Sambo, 2009; Ajueyitsi, 2009; Tayo, 2008).

There is hardly any detailed documentation of the
various biomass resources available in Nigeria in
literature. The purpose of this paper is thus to make a
comprehensive review of the biomass resources
available in Nigeria. In addition a case is also made
of the potential for biofuel production in Nigeria.

METHODOLOGY
The method adopted for the study involved extensive
literature survey of the internet. Sources used
includes reports and publications of various private
and government institution.

Nigeria Energy Resources
The energy resources in Nigeria include: Crude oil,
natural gas, coal, tar sand and renewables (biomass,
hydro, solar, wind e.t.c) (Abiodun, 2007)
Research Journal in Engineering and Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2276-8467) 1(3):149-155
A Comprehensive Review of Biomass Resources and Biofuel Production Potential in Nigeria
150

The primary commercial energy sources remain
crude oil and natural gas and are the most developed
source of fossil energy nationally. These are
complimented to a lesser extent, by domestic coal
which was once in high local demand in the colonial
period for the steam locomotives and today is used
marginally in local coal-producing States as cooking
fuel (Obioh and Fagbenle, 2009). Current estimated
oil reserve in Nigeria is 35.9 billion barrels with daily
production capacity of 2.4 million barrels of crude
oil. The 35.9 billion barrels of oil reserve will be
depleted by 30-35 years period (Abiodun, 2007).

The non-commercial energy sector is dominated by
primarily biomass. Biomass resources in the country
include wood, charcoal, grasses and shrubs, residues
and wastes (agricultural, forestry, municipal and
industrial), and aquatic biomass.

Energy Supply
In 2005, the gross energy supply was 105 MTOE
with contributions coming primarily fromoil (14 %),
natural gas (7 %) and biomass (78 %) and hydro (1%)
as illustrated in figure 1. Biomasses make the largest
contribution to the primary energy supply.
14%
7%
78%
1%
Oil Natural gas Biomass Hydr0
Fig 1. Nigeria Energy supply for 2005 (Osaghae,
2009; Obioh and Fagbenle, 2009)

Nigeria Agricultural Land Area and Use
Nigeria, with a population of about 140 million and a
growth rate of 3.3 % (Obioh and Fagbenle, 2009), has
a total land area of 923, 768 km
2
(comprising 910,
768 km
2
of land and 13000 km
2
of water). Out of this,
approximately 33 % (300,550 km
2
) is arable, 3.1 %
(28,235 km
2
) is under permanent crop, 44 % is under
permanent pasture, 12 % is under forest and
woodland and approximately 0.3 % (2,820 km
2
) is
under irrigation (Osaghae, 2009; Obioh and
Fagbenle, 2009; Abiodun, 2007) and (Sambo, 2009).
Fig 2 shows land use estimates in Nigeria. This
indicator shows that there is high potential for the
production of agricultural produce which are biofuel
feedstock.

In Nigeria, agriculture has remained the largest sector
of the economy. It generates employment for about
70 % of Nigerias population and contributes about
40 % to the gross Domestic Product (GDP) with
crops accounting for 80 %, livestock 13 %, fishery 4
%. (Jekanyinfa, 2007; Abila, 2010 )

Arable
land
33%
Permanent
crop
3%
Permanent
pasture
44%
Wood land
12%
Others
8%
Fig 2: Land use estimate in Nigeria (Obioh and
Fagbenle, 2009)

The crops grown include: cassava, yam, cocoyam and
sweet potato. Tree crops like cocoa, oil palm, rubber
and timber constitute the areas main commercial
products. Cocoa grows mostly in the southwest; oil
palm is predominantly in the southeast. The main
export in Nigeria before the discovery of crude oil
was cocoa, groundnut, cotton, oil palmand rubber.
After the discovery of crude oil, there was reduction
in the cultivation of these crops due to the reliance on
revenues from oil. Presently, Nigeria is the fourth
highest producer of cocoa and the highest producer of
cassava in the world (Osaghae, 2009).

Biomass Resources in Nigeria
Biomass resources in the country include Agricultural
crops, wood, charcoal, grasses and shrubs, residues
and wastes (agricultural, forestry, municipal and
industrial), and aquatic biomass. Total biomass
potential in Nigeria, consisting of animal and
agricultural waste, and wood residues, was estimated
to be 1.2 PJ in 1990 (Obioh and Fagbenle, 2004). In
2005, research revealed that bio-energy
reserves/potential of Nigeria stood at: Fuel wood
13071,464 hectares, animal waste, 61 million tonnes
per year, crop residues, 83 million tonnes (Agba et
al., 2010)

Agricultural Crops
In Nigeria, agricultural crops that have potential as
biomass feedstock for biofuel production include
sugar cane, cassava, rice, maize and sorghum for
ethanol and oil palm, groundnut, coconut, cotton,
soyabean, jatropha and sesame (locally called
biniseed) for biodiesel. (Agba et al., 2010). The
production data of some major agricultural crops in
the country together for year 2004 is presented in
Table 1. Table 2 shows estimate of biofuel
production potential of some major agricultural crops
in Nigerian in 2007.




Research Journal in Engineering and Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2276-8467) 1(3):149-155
A Comprehensive Review of Biomass Resources and Biofuel Production Potential in Nigeria
151

Table 1: Estimated crop output in Nigeria in the year
2004 in Million Metric Tonnes
Source:(Osaghae, 2009; Agba 2010)

Table 2: Nigeria Biofuel Production crops in 2007
Source: (Abila, 2010)

Agricultural Crop Residues
Agricultural residues are classified into crop residues
and agricultural industrial by-products. Crop residues
are the materials left on the farm after harvesting the
target crops. Crop residues in Nigeria include straw,
leaves and stalk of cereals such as rice, maize/corn,
sorghum, and millet, cassava stalk/peelings and cocoa
pods. Agro-industrial by-products, on the other hand,
are produced mainly after crop processing, and
include cocoa husk, coconut shell and husk, rice
husk, oil seed cakes, sugar cane bagasse, and oil palm
empty fruit bunch (EFB). (Ajueyitsi, 2009; Dominik
and Rainer, 2007)

Table 3 shows the production output of some major
agricultural crop residues and by-products generated
in the country in 2004. These mass of residues were
calculated by using the processing residue to product
ratio. As shown in table, cassava has the highest
output of residues generated and its estimated value
is about 29 million metric tonnes, and that fromyam
is about 22 million metric tonnes. Crops which
include groundnut, maize, rice, sorghum, and
cocoyamhave output from 1.5 to 6 million metric
tonnes of residues. While that from other crops
including oil palm, sweet potato, sugar cane and
coffee, range from 200 to 400 thousand metric tonnes
respectively.

The quality of crop residues available for energy is
highly dependent upon special environment and
utilization intensity. Furthermore, seasonal
availability will seriously constrain the use of
residues. Estimates of crop residues availability
depend largely on the effectiveness of harvest
methodology, the residual quantities required to
protect the soil from erosion and the density and
dispersion of the residue relative to the feasibility of
collecting the material. In North American, 62 % of
all residues occur between October and December
while in Nigeria, about 80 % of the residues occur
between April and September. (Odia , 2006)
The quantity of crop residues that can be realistically
used is considerably less than the total produced.
Environmental constraints and harvesting difficulties
limits what can be captured for energy to between 20
and 50 percent.

Table 3: Estimated national output of the processing-
based biomass residues in 2004, in metric tonnes
Source: (Osaghae, 2009; Jekanyinfa, 2007)

Forestry Resources
Nigeria has a total of 1,160 constituted forest
reserves, covering a total area of 10,752,702 hectares,
representing about 10 % of the total land area. Most
of the forests in Nigeria are man-made for the
purpose of timber exploitation, and in some cases for
fuel wood and furniture making industries. The total
plantation heterage in Nigeria was estimated as
269,000 hectares in 1988. They compose of 109,377
hectares of Gmelina arborea and 159,623 hectares of
others. The free areas, which are land use types
located outside forest and games reserves, are
9,136,726 hectares. These have major forest types
dominantly trees/woodland/shrubs (5,611,392 ha),
lowland rain forest (1,187,488 ha) and freshwater
swamp forest (1, 430,175 ha) (Ojonigu et al. 2010,
Oladipo, 2010).

CROP PRODUCTION
(Metric Tonnes)
DERIVABLE
BIOFUEL TYPE
Cassava 45,000000 Bioethanol
Yam 33,500000 Bioethanol
Millet 8,000000 Bioethanol
Maize 7,500000 Bioethanol
Sorghum 11,000000 Bioethanol
Rice 4,600000 Bioethanol
Potato 1,000000 Bioethanol
Cowpea 3,000000 Biodiesel
Groundnut 2,800000 Biodiesel
Oil Palm 1,000000 Biodiesel
Sugar cane 800,000 Bioethanol
Sweet potato 3,000000 Bioethanol
Cocoyam 2,000000 Bioethanol
Cotton 500,000 Biodiesel
Coffee 200,000 Biodiesel
Cashew 180,000 Biodiesel
Cocoa 150,000 Biodiesel
Plantain 250,000 Bioethanol

Crop 2007
Average
Yield(MT)
Biofuel
type
derivation


Derivable
biofuel
yield
(L/Ha)
Nigerias
production
rank
(global)
Sesame 100,000 Biodiesel 696 7
th

Palmoil 1,300,000 Biodiesel 5,950 3
rd

PalmKernel 1,275,000 Biodiesel 5,950 3
rd

Groundnut 3,835,600 Biodiesel 1,059 3
rd

Soybean 604,000 Biodiesel 446 11
th

Coconut 225,500 Bioethanol 2,689 17
th

Sugar cane 1,506,000 Bioethanol 6,000 51
st

Cotton seed 212,000 Biodiesel 325 16
th

Cassava 34,410,000 Bioethanol 4,000 1
st

Sweet corn 6,724,000 Bioethanol 172 10
th

Crop residue Total amount
(Metric tonnes)
Cassava 29,000000
Yam 22,000000
Millet 11,000000
Maize 3,500,000
Rice 1,800,000
Potato 600,000
Cowpea 4,050,000
Groundnut 6,000000
Oil palm 400,000
Sugar cane 300,000
Sweet potato 2,000000
Cocoyam 1,500,000
Coffee 400,000
Cashew 300,000
Plantain 9,450,000
Sorghum 2,500,000
Research Journal in Engineering and Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2276-8467) 1(3):149-155
A Comprehensive Review of Biomass Resources and Biofuel Production Potential in Nigeria
152

Fuel wood
Fuel wood is the most widely used domestic
renewable energy resource in rural Nigeria and
especially by low income groups in the urban areas.
Over the 1989-2000 period, fuel wood and charcoal
constituted 32 and 40 % of the total primary energy
consumption with 39 million tonnes estimate in
national demand in 2000 (Sambo, 2009). Table 4
gives year 2004 estimate of fuel wood and some
other waste resources in the country. Fuel wood
forms the largest percentage of the non-commercial
energy (about 37.4 % of the total energy demand) and
will continue to dominate the non-electricity energy
needs for the majority of people in the country.

Presently, about 80 million cubic metres, equivalent
to 43.4 x 10
9
kg (or 43.4 million tonnes) of fuel wood
with an average daily consumption ranging from0.5-
1.0 kg of dry fuel wood per person is being consumed
in the country annually for cooking and domestic
purposes (Ohunakin, 2010). The energy content of
the fuel wood that is being used is (6.0 x 10
9
MJ) out
of which only between 5-12 % is the fraction that is
gainfully utilized for cooking and other domestic uses
(Sambo, 2009).

Forest Residues
Forest residues include wood residue or wastes from
logging and wood-processing activities. Logging
residues are the unused portions of trees cut during
logging operations and left in the woods. These
include stumps, branches, leaves, off-cuts, and
sawdust. wood processing residues, or primary mill
residues, are composed of wood materials(such as
discarded logs, bark, sawdust and shavings)
generated at manufacturing plants sawmill, veneer
mill, plywood mill, or pulp mill- when round-wood
are processed into primary wood products. Forest
residues can be used to generate heat, electricity,
liquid fuels and solid fuels (compressed wood such as
pellets, briquettes, or charcoal briquettes (Milbrant,
2009).

Badejo (1995) stated that the quantity of wood waste
generated in the saw mills is estimated at about 3.87
million m
3
of which saw dust accounts for about 20
%. According to him, the number of saw mills in
Nigeria rose from over 500 in 1975 to 1200 in 1981.
These mills are estimated to produce well over 1.7
million cubic metres of wood waste annually. Saw
dust in its original form attracts no commercial value
rather it constitutes disposal problems to millers (who
expend money for transportation to disposal sites),
fire hazard as a result of its burning and pollution of
the environment.

According to Ohunakin (2010), about 42 t of sawdust
is generated every from 100 t of timber produced
with an average of about 4.39 x 10
6
m
3
of log split
and plywood processed annually in Nigeria. The
potential for sawdust generated can therefore be
estimated at 1.8 million tonnes annually. This formof
bioenergy is presently not exploited and yet
constitutes an environmental problem.(Ajueyitsi,
2009).

Table 4: Biomass resources and estimated quantities
in Nigeria (2004)
Resource Quantity
(million tonnes)
Energy value
( 000 MJ )
Fuel wood 39.1000 531.0000
Agro-waste 11.2444 147.7000
Saw dust 1.8000 31.4333
Municipal solid
waste
4.0750
Source (Sambo, 2009)

Municipal Solid Waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated by
households, commercial and industrial sectors as
result of concentration of population, and activities in
urban areas. Millions of tonnes of household waste
are collected each year with vast majority disposed
off in landfill dumps. The waste takes many forms
including plastics, paper, textiles, glass, metal, wood,
and other organic waste. The biomass resource in
MSW comprises the putrescibles, paper and plastic
and average 80 % of the total MSW collected.
Municipal solid waste can be converted into energy
by direct combustion, or by natural anaerobic
digestion in the landfill. At land fill sites the gas
produced by the natural decomposition of MSW
(approximately 50% methane and 50% carbon
dioxide) is collected from the stored material and
scrubbed and cleaned before feeding into internal
combustion engines or gas turbines to generate heat
and power. The organic fraction of MSW can be
anaerobically stabilizes in a high-rate digester to
obtain biogas for electricity or steam generation
(Salman, 2008; Milbrant, 2009).

According to Ogwueleka (2009) about 25 million
tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated
annually in Nigeria. It is estimated that Americans
produce 4.4 pounds of waste per day, or 229 million
tonnes of trash annually nationwide (CleanTech
Biofuel, 2008). Table 5 shows waste generation rates
and breakdown density for urban areas in Nigeria.
The waste generation rates ranged from0.66- 0.44
kg/cap/d as opposed to 0.7-1.8 kg/cap/d in developed
countries. The waste generation rate is typical of low
income towns. The rate of waste generation is highly
influenced by the population income.

Table 5: Urban solid waste generation (2007)
City Population Tonnage
per month
Density
(kg/m
3
)
Kg/capital
/day
Lagos 8,029,200 255,556 294 0.63
Kano 3,248,700 156,676 290 0.56
Ibadan 307,840 135,391 330 0.51
Kaduna 1,458,900 114,433 320 0.58
Port-Harcourt 1,053,900 117,825 300 0.60
Makurdi 249,000 24,242 340 0.48
Onitsha 509,500 84,137 310 0.53
Nsukka 100,700 12,000 370 0.44
Abuja 159,900 14,785 280 0.66
Source:(Ogwueleka, 2009)
Research Journal in Engineering and Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2276-8467) 1(3):149-155
A Comprehensive Review of Biomass Resources and Biofuel Production Potential in Nigeria
153

Animal Waste
Estimates made in 1985 give the number of cattle,
sheep, goats, horses and pigs as well as poultry in
Nigeria as 166 million. These produce 227,500
tonnes of animal waste daily which come to 2.2 x 10
9

MJ taking the calorific value of animal dung to be
9,800 MJ/tonne. Animal waste can be converted to
biogas and estimates show that this is of the order of
5.36 x 10
9
m
3
which has energy content amounting to
2.93 x 10
9
kWh (Sambo, 2005). The most recent
documentation of animal waste reserve estimates in
the country is given by Dayo (2008) and Iloeje
(2004) as 61 million tons per year.

Livestock manure is used as an organic fertilizer,
building material and energy source. It can be used as
fuel in two ways: either burned directly or
anaerobically digested to produce biogas which is
then burned. Biogas is a more efficient source of
energy than raw manure and the residue fromthe bio-
digesters (spent slurry) can be used as valuable
fertilizer. Under controlled and optimized conditions,
a bio-digester can convert feedstock into biogas in a
few days. Small-and medium-scale digesters (up to 6
m
3
) provide biogas for single-household cooking and
lighting in rural communities. Large scale digesters
can supply biogas in large volumes for electricity
generation, heat, steam, and transportation fuels
production (Milbrant, 2009). Livestock manure
refers to animal garbage. The quantity of manure
produced generally depends on amount of fodder
eaten, the quality of fodder and the live weight of the
animal. (Duku et al., 2010)

Biofuel Potential in Nigeria
From the perspective of available land and wide
range of biomass resources, Nigeria has significant
potential to produce biofuels and even become an
international supplier. Bioenergy feedstock is not
only abundant in Nigeria, it is also widely distributed
(Elijah, 2010). Table 6 shows the current ethanol
demand in the country. At the moment potential
crops for biofuel production in the country are
cassava, sugar cane rice and sweet sorghum for
bioethanol; palmoil, groundnut, and palmkernel for
biodiesel because of their high yield and current
production output in the country. Nigeria is the
largest producer of cassava in the world and has the
largest capacity for oil palmplantation which serves
as a great source for biodiesel (Abiodun, 2007). It is
interesting to mention that Nigeria could also be a
major player in the biofuel industry given the
enormous magnitude of various waste/residues
(agricultural, forestry, industry and municipal solid)
available in the country.

Biofuel may be of special interest in many other
developing countries like Nigeria for several reasons.
Climate in many of the countries are well suited to
growing biomass. Biomass production is inherently
rural and labor-intensive, and thus may offer the
prospect for new employment in regions where the
majority of populations typically resides.

Von Braun in Abila (2010) classified Nigeria as one
of the countries with very high potential for energy
crops production. This classification of potential was
based on the assessed countries capacity relating to:
the availability of arable land
the availability of water, and
the level of current food security of the
country.

Table 6: Current ethanol demand in the country
Use Substitution Annual consumption
(million litres)
Tansportation E 10 gasolene blend 1300
Household
cooking and
lighting
Parrafin (replacement with
ethanol based cooking gel
fuel
3750
Manufacturing
sector
Industrial ethanol demand
(wines, chemical, raw
materials, solvents,
pharmaceuticals etc
90
Total 5140
Source: (Elijah, 2010)

Current State of Ethanol Production and
Utilization in Nigeria
The current quantity of ethanol produced in Nigeria is
given in Table 7. Based on an installed total
production capacity of 134 million litres per annum,
and based on the assumption that these factories
operated at 100 % capacity throughout the year, it is
clear that the current production of ethanol in the
country is barely able to meet the demand of the
manufacturing sector alone. The implication of this is
that a supply gap of over 5 billion litres per annum
exist in the country. In addition, Alconi/Nosak,
UNIKEM and Intercontinental Distilleries with a
production share of 118.6 million litres, representing
nearly 90 % of the total production, rely on crude
ethanol precursors, mostly imported from Brazil.
Giving the fact that their feedstocks are not locally
sourced, the Nigerian farmers are thus eluded of the
additional business opportunity of feedstock supply.
Also, Dura Clean, which recently acquired the former
Nigerian Yeast and Alcohol Manufacturing Company
(NIYAMCO) is yet to begin full operations. Only the
Allied Atlantic Distilleries Ltd. (AADL), which
began operations in 1999, is producing 30,000 l/day
of ethanol from locally sourced cassava feedstock.
The challenges which present itself as a business
opportunity in the country, is how to locally produce
over 5 billion litres per annumto meet the demand
for liquid transport and domestic cooking fuels. In
2007, Nigeria imported 123 million litres of ethanol
from Brazil, which translate to about 2 % of the
current national demand. Although this is grossly
insufficient to meet the national demand, and thus
Nigeria will continue to import ethanol (Elijah, 2010)




Research Journal in Engineering and Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2276-8467) 1(3):149-155
A Comprehensive Review of Biomass Resources and Biofuel Production Potential in Nigeria
154

Table 7: Current ethanol production in Nigeria
Name of
Company
Plant
location
Feedstock Installed
capacity
(million
L/year)
Alconi/Nosak
a
Lagos Crude
ethanol(imported)
43.8
UNIKEM
b
Lagos Crude
ethanol(imported)
65.7
Intercontinental
Distilleries
Ota-
Idiroko
Crude
ethanol(imported)
9.1
Dura clean
(Formerly
NIYAMCO)
Bacita Molasses/cassava 4.4
Allied Atlantic
Distilleries Ltd.
(AADL)
Sango-
Ota
Cassava 10.9
Total 133.9
Source: (Elijah, 2010)
a
Aconi Nigeria announced a new ethanol plant for
Calabar, Cross River State
b
UNIKEM recently acquired a second plant, which
brought their total ethanol production capacity to
400,00 litres/day.

CONCLUSION
The review critically focuses on biomass resources
currently available in Nigeria, and the potential to
utilize themfor the production of various types of
biofuel. The review shows that a variety of biomass
resources exists in the country, and that there is also
immense opportunity for their conversion to various
types of biofuels using different biomass conversion
technologies that are currently available. Nigeria has
immense potential for energy crops cultivation and
the production of bioethanol and biodiesel. The
existing database shows that Nigeria ranks very high
in terms of production of the major energy crops such
as soybean, palm oil, sesame and cassava. The
availability of different types of agricultural crop
residues, forest residues and wood processing waste
in Nigeria makes thempotential biofuel feedstocks
(lignocellulosic feedstocks), particularly for the
production of second generation biofuels. Also, the
organic portion of municipal solid waste (MSW),
together with animal manure could play a major role
as potential cellulosic feedstocks for the production
of biogas.

Nigeria has the capacity to be a leading exporter of
biofuels. The adoption of biofuel can ease the
financial strain relating to the heavy burden of fossil
fuel subsidy and also enhance local livelihood within
the production chains (Abila, 2010). With the very
high potential for biofuel production, the Government
as well as private investors should take steps towards
investing in agriculture for the production of energy
crops and the establishment of biofuel processing
plants in Nigeria

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