2014

Andrew LangOn invitation by Sudan

University of Science and Technology.1/28/2014

Final Report: Bioenergy in Sudan,

Table of Contents

No. Content Page

Day 1: 20th January ARRIVAL 3

Day 2: 21st January

Talk I: BIOENERGY – A SOURCE OF ELECTRICITY, INDUSTRIAL HEAT AND COOLING AND TRANSPORT FUELS

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Visit I: AN IRRIGATION FARM ON THE NILE EDGE 4

Day 3: 22st January

Visit II: SUST AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY 5

Visit II I: JICA-Funded Facility 6

Visit III: CAMPUS FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTION, FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE

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Day 4: 23st January

FULL DAY WORKSHOP: GREEN ENERGY: CURRENT AND FUTURE VISION

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SUDAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS SEMINAR 8

Day 5: 24th January DEPARTURE 9

IMPRESSIONS AND VIEWS ON THE POTENTIAL FOR SUDAN TO DEVELOP A BIOENERGY

SECTOR10

BIODATA ANDREW LANG 14

APPENDEX I TALK I BROCHURE: ASSHAHEED HALL 15

APPENDEX IIFULL DAY WORKSHOP BROCHURE (DEANSHIP HALL)

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APPENDEX III TALK II BROCHURE (ENGINEERING UNION HALL) 18

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Bioenergy in Sudan, on invitation by Sudan University of

Science and Technology.Andrew Lang (vice president World Bioenergy Association)

This was my second visit to Khartoum, with the first in February 2013 on invitation

from Aeronautical Research Center-Sudan. This first visit was within a project on

jatropha production for oil to produce biodiesel, as part of a larger project on

developing a National Biofuel Roadmap.

This jatropha biodiesel scoping project (now completed) entailed a lot of research into

the climatic, rainfall, soils, and forestry distribution and deforestation in Sudan, as

well as the recent economic trends, and trends in use of fossil energy and biomass for

energy.

My connection to this project came via an invitation from Mrs (now Dr) Farouk at the

Biomass for Biofuels and Value-added Products conference held in Kuala Lumpur in

October 2012. Mrs Farouk approached the stand of the World Bioenergy Association

and asked if the WBA might be able to provide some input into this Sudan Biofuels

Roadmap development project. Since I was the board member with most interest and

background knowledge in this topic I took up the invitation.

In this short report I will give a day by day account and then provide a brief overview

of my impressions and views on the potential for Sudan to develop a bioenergy sector

and which of the many technologies might be most worthwhile to develop initially,

and what the wider option might be for cost-effective development of renewable

energy sources, and what the role might be for university-supported or sponsored

research within this.

The Schedule

20th January. I arrived at about 6.30 pm and was met by Dr Farouk and assisted

though the entry process by Abubakr from general relationship unit in SUST. I was

checked into the Holiday Villa hotel in Nile St.

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21st January:

a) Bioenergy – A Source of Electricity, Industrial Heat and Cooling and

Transport Fuels:

Collected by Dr Farouk and taken to the SUST Almugran campus. After meeting with

the Vice Chancellor and several senior staff members I made a presentation in

Alshaheed Hall on ‘Bioenergy – a source of Electricity, Industrial Heat and Cooling

and Transport Fuels’ followed by a presentation on potential of Biofuel Production in

Sudan by Dr. Farouk. . This session was co-organised by the Deanship of Scientific

Research and External Relationship. It was attended by senior staff, postgraduates,

and some other people from other universities, research centres and institutes,

Ministry of Petroleum, Nile Petroleum Company, biofuel committee in National

council and the biofuel industry including Kenana.

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b) Visit an Irrigation Farm on the Nile Edge

In the afternoon I was taken by Dr Md Elhadi and Dr Farouk to visit an irrigation

farm on the Nile edge just north of Khartoum, and then to an irrigated farm using

groundwater just to the west, and to see another potential irrigation site.

22nd January:

a) Visit to SUST Agriculture

Collected from the hotel by Dr Farouk and taken to the SUST Agriculture campus

where I met senior staff and gave a presentation on low rainfall forestry establishment

and possible species in Australia and elsewhere, to a group of staff members and

postgraduates.

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b) JICA-Funded Facility

After lunch and a brief visit to the impressive JICA-funded facility where they are

trailing and assessing control options for the problem weed Striga hermontheca.

c) Visit to campus for Animal Production, Fisheries and Wildlife

Following this we went to the SUST campus for Animal Production, Fisheries and

Wildlife. After a short meeting with senior members of the academic staff we looked

at some experimental work on biogas from animal manure, and on processing of

animal manure into a form of more convenient domestic cooking fuel. This was

followed by a tour of the zoo area and animal handling site, and of the chicken and

diary cow production areas.

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23rd January:

a) Full Day Workshop: Green Energy: Current and Future Vision

This day was opened by an address by the Vice Chancellor and entirely given over to

a full day workshop in the Vice Chancellor’s lecture theatre. There was a series of

presentations on current research at the SUST campuses by staff members and

postgraduates on topics including current work on jatropha, comparison of

productivity of pond microalgae with identical algae in photobioreactors, and work on

seawater greenhouses.

A presentation by Dr Abduelmutalib from Khartoum University on the development

of machinery and equipment for small scale processing of jatropha demonstrated the

high level of competency of staff and graduates of SUST and partner universities.

As well there presentations were given by the head of Nile Petroleum and Dr Elhadi

(on the potential for ethanol as a fuel for piston engine planes). I gave two further

presentations, one on the world view on energy production from biomass, and one on

the general potential for biomass-to-energy in Sudan. The morning sessions were

chaired by Dr Farouk, and Mr. Omer from the Ministry of Petroleum chaired the

afternoon session.

Participants in the workshop had lunch after the long morning session. At the end of

the shorter afternoon session good discussions were held on the starting up of a

national bioenergy association. A group formed from the people present to work to

bring this association into being. At the start of the day the Vice Chancellor had

undertaken that SUST would be supportive of such an organisation.

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b) Sudan Society of Mechanical Engineers Seminar (Organised in

Collaboration with MOWRE)

In the evening Dr Farouk brought me to the Sudan Society of Mechanical Engineers

for a seminar (organised in collaboration with MOWRE). It was chaired by Dr Farouk

and I presented on ‘Bioenergy Technology and Electricity Production’. This was

followed by a talk by Dr Elhadi. About 30 minutes of lively questions, responses and

comments followed.

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24th January:

a) Wrap Up and Travel back

This was basically a day to pack and finalise information. Dr Farouk collected me at

about 11.00 am and gave a short tour of the city and some places of interest, provided

a pleasant meal, and took me to the airport by about 4pm.

At this point I’d like to thank all those who were so welcoming and helped make this

few days so worthwhile for me, and hopefully for SUST. So to the Vic Chancellor

and the Deans, senior staff and post-graduates I would like to thank you for your time

and welcome. To Dr Farouk and Dr Musaab Hassan who organised the logistics of

my visit – it ran like clockwork. My gratitude to Dr Mohammed Elhadi for driving me

to get an insight into farming activities. And also to Mr. Fathelrahman the visionary,

farmer and food producer who we visited. And a particular thanks to Dr Farouk who

drove me around safely (though often only just), and was the source of much

necessary information.

Andrew Lang

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Impressions and views on the potential for Sudan to develop a bioenergy sector

Sudan already gets over 50% of its energy from biomass (in the form of wood and

charcoal), though this is almost all as domestic and industrial heat and much of it is

relatively inefficient. This use of wood by Sudan’s large and growing population is

the root cause for ongoing deforestation in Sudan, which already has one of the

highest deforestation rates in the world.

However it is clear that this use of wood and charcoal has reduced considerably,

thanks to the access by city dwellers to relatively cheap bottled LPG. Use of wood for

industrial heating for brick making and bakeries has also reduced as these are

impacted by production of concrete bricks, or as bakeries convert to LPG gas firing.

In different countries, which bioenergy technology is used usually depends on what

biomass is available in adequate volume at low cost. So for some countries forestry

residues are the primary biomass. In others it is straw, in some it is wastes suitable for

anaerobic digestion to produce biogas, and in some it is predominantly the organic

fraction of municipal waste.

Again, the main energy product biomass is used to produce changes from country to

country. So the colder countries have a greater need for heat, while the hotter

countries might need mostly transport biofuels and cooling, as well as distributed

electricity. In line with this, Sudan is likely to have greatest need for cooling,

transport fuels and electricity generation for off-grid locations.

Obviously, Sudan has a well-developed manufacturing sector, and a good supply of

well-trained engineers and people with good technical skills. It is well within the

technical and manufacturing abilities in the country to produce much of the plant and

equipment for those bioenergy technologies that are relatively straightforward

engineering-wise.

While Sudan appears to be a country that is arid or semi-arid, for much of the country

water is in adequate supply, either piped from the Nile valley or sourced from sub-

artesian basins. This means that there is real scope for implementing the more water-

efficient options for food and biomass production, as well as halting desertification.

Which of the many technologies might be most worthwhile to develop initially?

The first step would usually be to conduct a biomass audit state by state. This would

include industry organic waste (from intensive animal production, food processing or

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timber or paper processing), municipal biowastes (including sewage), lignocellulosic

materials including woody weeds, agrobiomass (including cotton ginning wastes and

cotton stalk), and so on.

When this is done it will be easier to assess what biomass might be available, and so

which bioenergy technologies would be most suitable. Beyond this in the more distant

timeline there might be scope for some prospective wastes or biomass from projects

in development including such things as large scale jatropha production or

establishment of short rotation woody energy crops.

However not all bioenergy technologies require large amounts of biomass to be

available at one site. Examples of the ones that can be at relatively small scale and

that entail relatively low capital cost/unit output and low technical risk include-

Anaerobic digestion of putrescibles wastes – this can be at household small

industry, institution (university) or rural township scale, and can use the wet

organic wastes generated by that group or industry. This can include chicken

or fish processing or production businesses. The residue is an almost odourless

fertiliser substitute that can have a moderate value in itself. Systems might

produce from 50 kW-electric output and up, or gas suitable for cooking or

industrial heating or steam production.

Gasification of dry woody material, or alternatively, using seed husks. It may

be feasible to use cotton stalk or jatropha or other horticultural prunings, or

woody weeds like mesquite or rubber bush. Gasifier s can produce electricity

via a generator driven by a spark ignition motor, or can simply produce a

flammable gas (a mix of H2 and CO) suitable for such industrial uses as brick

kiln firing. Gasifiers are available from 10kW-e and up, with models from 60

kW-e with automated feed systems

Biomass to heat in a basic but efficient furnace. This can be used for

production of low grade heat (80-110C) or to heat mineral oil to about 250 C

to drive an organic rankin cycle (ORC) turbine to produce electricity as a

secondary product

Production of biodiesel from animal fats or used cooking oil. The possibility

of producing and using jatropha oil as a feedstock would mean the possible

availability of large amounts of seedcake and glycerine (see Lang and Farouk

report – Jatropha Oil Production for Biodiesel and Other Products. 2013).

The appeal of biodiesel production is that it can be done a wide range of scale,

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the biodiesel can be blended with fossil diesel or used straight, and it can be a

way for regional communities to reduce costs of importing fossil diesel, while

also creating jobs locally and developing greater energy self sufficiency.

Production of ethanol from industrial or domestic residues of starchy or sugary

material, to produce fuel-grade ethanol. Development of this production

process is an option probably best left to the industries that might have

quantities of such residues, but SUST may have a role in the R&D or

economic feasibility. The production of fuel grade ethanol from smaller

volumes of low concentration ferment product is supposed to be fairly cost-

effective but it is actually not often done in commercial practice

What the wider option might be for cost-effective development of renewable

energy sources.

SUST may already be involved in research on small wind turbines, solar photovoltaic

(PV) systems, and other technologies for solar radiation to electricity or cooling, or

shallow geothermal heating and cooling system (heat pumps). All these may have a

useful role and it comes down to cost-effectiveness or output of energy per unit of

capital investment. This may be different for a business or householder in Khartoum

or on the national grid than for someone in a smaller community in far west, north or

south east Sudan.

One issue if using wind and or solar energy systems is that these are not supplying

baseload or on-demand product, while most bioenergy technologies can do this. So

there may be scope for combining one or two energy systems (i.e., bioenergy

gasification or biogas-to-electricity AND solar PV) or developing an efficient and

cost-effective energy storage system. However this is the aim of researchers all

around the world, but to date no cost-effective energy storage system has been

developed that does not involve high cost and considerable energy losses

What the areas might be for university research within bioenergy development.

In the short sections before this a number of areas are identified where R&D by SUST

undergraduates or postgraduates may be called for. And there are others not identified

specifically. Together these might include work on

microalgae production for lipids, for biogas, animal feed, pharmaceuticals

indigenous and non-indigenous forestation species,

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short rotation energy wood options

desert stabilisation species

biodiesel from animal fats and used cooking oil

biogas production and systems for rural communities

auditing biomass availability

development of pilot plants for biogas, gasification and biodiesel

development of efficient systems for jatropha harvesting, oil extraction and

cleaning

production of cooling systems using absorbtion chilling technology

cost effective energy storage systems for regional (off-grid) communities)

development of buried-line irrigation systems

development of low-labour establishment options for jatropha plantations

development of more efficient layout and pruning systems for jatropha

plantings allowing more mechanised harvesting

identification, collection and crossbreeding of jatropha species to develop

productive cultivars suited to different regions or soil types in Sudan (and

suited to mechanical harvesting and yielding high oil/ha)

Andrew Lang, World Bioenergy Association

Hazir Farouk, Sudan University of Science and Technology

28.01.2014

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BIODATA

Andrew Lang is an Australian agricultural scientist

with farming and forestry experience. He is a

Churchill and Gottstein Fellow. He is a board

member and a vice president of the World

Bioenergy Association in Sweden and in Australia

he occasionally work as a consultant, including sub-

contracting to other consulting firms and now he is

the president of Farm Forest Growers Victoria

(FFGV) and the director of SMARTimbers Cooperative. As board member of WBA

he is informed about the range of bioenergy technologies in use around the world,

including within the biofuels sector. His interests are in agronomy and low rainfall

forestry, and the logistics and economics of larger scale biomass-to-energy. Most

recently he worked for the Aeronautical research in Khartoum on the potential and

economics/logistics of large scale production of Jatropha oil for biodiesel production.

Over recent years he have attended and presented at renewable energy conferences,

bioenergy conferences, pellet conferences, and forestry and farm forestry conferences,

in Australia and other countries including USA, China, Sth Korea, Brazil, Austria,

India, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Durban New Zealand and North America. His

reports and publications and deal with forestry management and bioenergy

development in different scales.

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APPENDEX I: TALK I: Alshaheed Hall

والتكنولوجيا للعلوم السودان جامعةSudan University of Science Technology

العلمي البحث عمادةDeanship of Scientific Research

Date : 21th January 2014 (Tuesday)Time : 10:00-12:00 PM

Venue : Alshaheed Hall, Almugran Campus, Co-Organized by: Deanship of Scientific Research and

External Relationship

Action Time DesignationAl-Quran Alkareem 10:00-10:05

am -SUST welcome

note10:05-10:10

am Dr. Musaab Zaroog

Chancellor speech 10:10-10:20 am Prof. Hashim Ali salim

Bioenergy- A Source of Electricity,

Industrial and Domestic Heat &

Cooling and Transport Fuels

10:20-11:00 am Mr. Andrew Lang

Potential of Biofuel Production in

Sudan11:00-11:20

amDr. Hazir Farouk Abedelraheem

Commentators 11:20-12:00 pm

Dr. Mohammed Elhadi Ahmed

Mr. Nasreldeen Elhusien

Mr. Omer Adam Bakheit

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For more info contact: Dr. Hazir 0113094458

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APPENDEX II : WORKSHOP

والتكنولوجيا للعلوم السودان جامعةSudan University of Science Technology

العلمي البحث عمادةDeanship of Scientific Research

:ورشة عمل عن : والمستقبل الحاضر السودان في المتجددة الطاقات واقع

المكان: قاعة العمداء – الجناح الغربي – جامعة السودانللعلوم والتكنولوجيا

م(4:30 ص – 10:0م ) 2014 يناير 23الزمان: الخميس: االفتتاحية : ( )10:20 – 10:00الجلسة ص

الكــــــــــــــــريم القــــــــــــــرآنالمقدم الكلمات

/ . الجامعة. مدير سالم علي هاشم د أ الترحيب كلمة / المتجددة. الطاقات لجنة رئيس حمدان محمد علي د

بالجامعة

األولي (ظهرا 11:40 – 10:20) :الجلسةالزمن الجلسة رئيس المقدم الورقة اسم عدد

ص 10:35 – 10:20 فاروق. حاذر دعبدالرحيم

Andrew Lang اللوجستية والقضايا الحيوي الوقود الستخدام الحاجةالصلة ذات واالقتصادية

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ص 11:55 – 10:35 الحسين. الدين نصر م السودان في الطاقة تواجه التي التحديات 2

ص 11:20 – 11:00 السيد. أحمد الهادي محمد د A technology roadmap for using Ethanol in agricultural aircrafts in Sudan

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: 11:30 – 12:30 ظ ( الهندسة) بكليات الحيوي الوقود في البحثية المشاريع الثانية الجلسة والزراعةالجلسة الزمن الورقة المقدمرئيس عدداسم

ص 11:50 – 11:30

عبدالله. بابكر دكرامة

حمدان. محمد علي - د جامعة الهندسة كلية في الحيوي الوقود واقعوالتكنولوجيا للعلوم السودان

1

سعيد. ظ 12:10 – 11:50 إبراهيم Potentials ofد Jatropha curcas L. as a source of bio-based products in Sudan

2

خير. ظ 12:30 – 12:10 الله فضل المطلب عبد دالله

Design and development of low cost postproduction machinery package for Jatropha curcas L.seedes in rural areas

3

عمر. ظ 12:50 – 12:30 حسين معتصم رحمة السودان م في الطحالب من الحيوي الوقود انتاج

الظهر + ( صالة )2:00 –1:00الغداء م 2:00م– 4:30) ) : المتجددة الطاقات في المستقبلية المشاريع الثالثة الجلسة

الجلسة الزمن الورقة المقدمرئيس عدداسمم 2:20 – 2:00

بخيت. آدم عمر أ

محمد. رحمة الشيخ عباس The see water green houses 1دAndrew LangThe future scenario of biomass energy in Sudan2م 2:50 – 2:30, الحضورم 4:20 – 3:00 , العلوم وزارة البترول وزارة الطاقة وزارة من تعقيب

الوطني + بالمجلس الحيوي الوقود ولجنة واالتصاالتحر نقاش

3

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الختــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــام

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APPENDEX III: TALK II: Engineering Union Hall