IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES (IJCCP )

E-I SSN 2545-5265
P- ISSN 2695-1916
VOL. 11 NO. 1 2025
DOI: 10.56201/ijccp.v11.no1.2025.pg74.81

---

The Role of Science and Technology in the Conversion of Biowastes to Biofuel in Nigeria

Akintola, T, Alegbemi, MT, Barnabas, Y, Umar, A

---

Abstract

Biowastes are biological wastes which are which are derived from humans, animals and plants. These wastes include agricultural wastes, human wastes and animal wastes. When the environment is littered with biowastes it can serve as a potential source of microorganism which may infect the environment and result in the spread of diseases that are detrimental to both human and animal. Biowastes also affect the environment soil health, crop productivity and contributes to global warming and climate change. Agricultural wastes are basically potential source of biofuel as well as animal wastes like excrement. The burning or use of fossil fuels lead to air pollution, water pollution, climate change and health challenges like, respiratory problems and eye irritation. The conversion of biowastes to biofuel in Nigeria would help to mitigate the challenges associated with biowastes accumulation in the environment and the usage of fossil fuels. This paper highlights and discusses various technologies utilize in the conversion of biowastes to biofuel. These technologies include biochemical and thermochemical technologies. The thermochemical technologies are combustion, gasification, pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction. Biochemical technologies include enzymatic hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion and transesterification. The benefits of biofuel were also mentioned. Biogas, biodiesel, bioethanol and biohydrogen are good examples biofuels obtained from biowastes. They are renewable, have less pollutants and not expensive. The wastes are sewage, crop residue, wood, waste vegetable oil and plant materials

keywords:

; Biowastes, Biofuel, Fossil fuel, Pyrolysis, hydrolysis and anaerobic

---

References:

Ackmez,M.,Tania,F.C.(2010). ).Biohydrogen production and bioprocess enhancement : A
review.Retrievedfromhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/312977475-Biohydrogen-
production-and-bioprocess-enhancement-A-review
Adeyemo,S.B.(2001).Energy
potentials
of
organic
wastes
Proceedings
of
the first National conference on manufacturing technology and engineering in a
development economy, university of Uyo, Nigeria,2001, 56-61.
Alper,K.(2012).Pyrolysis of agriculture residues for bio-oil as sustainable source of biofuels.
Energy, 44(1): 158-166
Atabani, A.E., Silitonga, A.S., Badruddin, I.A., Mahlia, T.M.I., Masjuki, H.H., &Mekhilef,
S.(2012). A comprehensive review on biodiesel as an alternative energy resource and its
characteristics. Renew. Sustain.Energy Rev. 16(4), 2070-2093.
Badiyya, H. M. (2018). Comparative study of biogas production from sugarcane bagasse and
cow dung. UMYU Journal of Microbiology Research, 3(2), 127-131
Bian,R.(2016). Pyrolysis of crop residues in a mobile bench-scale pyrolizer. Journal of Analytical
and applied pyrolysis, 119: 52-59
BON,E.P.,& Ferrara,M.A.(2007).Bioethanol production via enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic
biomass . FAO Seminar on the Role of Agriculture Biotechnologies for production of
Bioenergy in Developing Countries. Rome: Science Direct
Derek(2014).Conversion of plastic shopping bags to biodiesel. www.treehugger.com/clean-
technology.
Ekwenchi,M.M. (2007).Gaseous fuel production by fungal degradation of banana leaves.
Chesearch Journal 1(1),28-32
Elaiyaraju P.,& Partha N. (2016). Studies on biogas production by anaerobic process using agro-
industrial wastes. International Journal of Bio-Science and Bio-Technology 62, 73-82.
Fukuda ,H.Kondo ,A. Noda, H. (2001). Biodiesel fuel production by transesterification of oils J
Biosci Bioeng 92(5) ,405–41
Garba ,B.,Zuru,A.A.,& Sambo,A.S.(1996).Effect of slurry concentration on biogas production
from cattle dung. Nigerian Journal of Renewable Energy 4(2),38-43
Garba, B. (1998). Studies on the chemical composition of biogas and kinetics of its production
at varying temperature. Unpublished Ph.D thesis in the Department of Pure and Applied
Chemistry, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto ,Nigeria. ,28.
Hill, D.J.,& Roberts, D.W.(1981). Digestion of diary manures and field crop residues.
Agricultural wastes ,(3): 179-189
Ibeto, C.N., Okoye, C.O.B., & Ofoefule, A.U.( 2012). Comparative study of the physicochemical
characterization of some oils as potential feedstock for biodiesel production. International
Scholarly Research Notices: ISRN Renewable Energy, 1-5.
Ifeanyichukwu,E.(2020). Bioethanol production from edible feed stock: an overview. Retrieved
from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348224158-Bioethanol-Production-An-
overview
Khan,Z.(2014).Hydrogen production from perm kernel shell via tntegrated catalytic adsorption
steam gasification. Energy conversion and Management;87:1224-1230
Liu ,Q.(2017), Biomass treatment strategies for thermochemical conversion. Energy and
Fluid;31(4):3525-3536
Magdalene,Z.,&Lucyna,S.(2010).Bioethanol production and utilization. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228351087-Bioethanol-production-and-
ultilization.
Nayak,B.k.,Soumya,P.,&Debabra,D.(2013).Biohydrogen production as an alternative energy
source.
Retrieved
from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312977475-
Biohydrogen-chapter 15
Yusup,S.(2014). Optimization of hydrogen production in in-situ catalytic adsorption steam
gasification based on response surface methodology. Biomass and Bioenergy; 60:98-107
Zhang,Z.,Zhao,W.,&Zhao , W.J.(2014).Commercialization development of crop straw
gasification technologies in China. Sustainability 12;9159-9178

DOWNLOAD PDF

---

Back