Water Hyacinth as a Potential Bioenergy Resource for Woodfuel Replacement in Communities Along the Volta Lake in Ghana

Water hyacinth affects hydrological, ecological systems and socio-economic activities of the people living along the Volta Lake. Indiscriminate tree cutting for use as energy source is also known to significantly contribute to deforestation. The unsustainable use of woodfuel in developing countries is contributing significantly to the inversible climate change through environmental degradation. Meanwhile, water hyacinth biomass can be converted to bioenergy. This study focused on the possibility of replacing traditional cooking fuels with biobriquette and biogas produced from water hyacinth biomass. Land Use and Land Cover Change along the Volta Lake was evaluated using remote sensing technique. Also, logistic regression and multinomial regression were used to determine the key factors that influence the choice of cooking fuels in these settlements. Water hyacinth coverage on the Volta Lake was used to estimate the bioenergy potential. It was revealed that forest cover decreased at 2.49 and 1.72% respectively within the two periods (i.e., 1996–2009 and 2009–2020). On the contrary, the water hyacinth increased by 1.09 and 2.18% respectively between the same periods. The results of this study highlighted the connection between deforestation and choice of cooking fuels. The study also revealed that, only 10.75 TJ of thermal energy is needed for cooking, although 129.07 TJ of energy is required due to inefficient cooking stoves. Consequently, 58,033 tonnes and 834 tonnes of water hyacinth biomass is required through biogas and biobriquette respectively, representing 4.4 and 0.1%, respectively of the water hyacinth coverage. The study further demonstrated the possibility of using water hyacinth biomass as a suitable alternative cooking fuel in these identified communities. This could form a basis for developing similar biomass resources in other communities or regions for sustainable energy production, whiles mitigating deforestation and adapting to the rapidly changing climate.