Cocoa Biomass Energy.

Cocoa is an agricultural product which can be used as a source of biomass energy. In order to make use of cocoa as an energy resource, a company will have to invest in purchasing of gasifier systems.  Such a system will allow for the conversion of cocoa to electrical power by conversion into a gas. This venture will make it possible to produce small scale electricity by the gasification technology while reducing the dependence on fossil fuel (Knoef &  Stassen, 1994). However, when a foreign power generation company from the US attempts to expand its operation to Ghana, one of the largest cocoa producing nations in the world, various concerns may be raised by the local community. The manner in which such concerns will be resolved is key in the success of the company in the region.

One of the main concerns of the local community will be on environmental wastes. Biomass gasification systems are known to produce various wastes that include ash, tar and untreated effluents which are detrimental to the people residing around the plant (Tooy,  Sirodz,  Longdong &  Tambany, 2013). Ash can easily be properly disposed. However, toxic-tar disposal may present a challenge. Liquid effluents are also quite toxic and their untreated disposal may led to a number of negative effects such as fish kills and contamination of drinking water. The power producing plant may overcome this by equipping their cross draft and down draft power gasifier systems with a dry clean-up system (Dzulfansyah, 2013). This will allow for a controlled means of disposal that is acceptable to the local people.

Another key concern may be on the operating personnel. Foreign investments lead to creation of employment in the community. Therefore, this will warrant questions to be raised on employment opportunities and the type of workforce management that will be employed by the foreign firm. Both training and experience are necessary. Moreover, the type of labor required to operate a gasification plant is totally different form that of running an equivalent diesel engine (Knoef &  Stassen, 1994). To achieve this, the foreign company will have to embark on offering of training programmes and continuous technical back-up . Additionally, supervisors must understand the local management culture and should also have adequate foreign experience in order to effectively manage, motivate and discipline the workforce.

             The health and safety of not only the workers but also the community living around the plant is another major area of concern. It involves three fundamental problems which are, toxic hazards, fire hazards and explosion hazards (Knoef &  Stassen, 1994). Carbon monoxide is the most toxic constituent produced by a cocoa gasification system. This is because it easily combines with the hemoglobin present inside the blood, preventing the absorption and distribution of oxygen. The plant should therefore ensure that no leakage is allowed. Furthermore, the discharge of the vented gas during start up and shut down must be done under controlled conditions (Tooy,  Sirodz,  Longdong &  Tambany, 2013).

Gasification is a high temperature process. Due to this, the surface of various equipments are usually extremely hot and firing of the system as a result of sparking may occur. In dealing with these fire hazards, proper insulation of hot surfaces will considerably decrease the risks involved. Lastly, the producer gas usually contains high levels of hydrogen. If sufficient concentrations of air is mixed with the producer gas, the results may be explosive. However, leakage of air into the gas system will revert the possibility  of an explosion (Dzulfansyah, 2013). This is because air  will combust the gas hence ensuring the safety of the operators.

References.

Dzulfansyah,  D. (2013). Numerical simulation to prediction of downdraft type of gasification         reactor using coconut husks. Bogor University of Agriculture: Bogor. 2013.

Knoef, H. A. M., Stassen, H. E. M. (1994). Energy Generation from Biomass and Waste in the

Netherlands; A Brief Overview and Perspectives. Biomass Technology Group: The             Netherlands.

Tooy, L. D.,  Sirodz, Y. N., Longdong, I., and Tambany, H. (2013). Development  of  Gasification            using  Coconut  Husks  to  Generate  Small Scale Electricity. Hi-Link  Program  Report,    Ministry  of  Culture  and Education: Indonesia.