Bioethanol Potential from Oil Palm Sap in Ghana

Ghana has a competitive geographical location for oil palm development when compared with its immediate neighbors and other global producers. In 2010, a total of 336,000 hectares of oil palm plantation was cultivated in Ghana and this is expected to increase as part of the roadmap stipulated in the introduction of ‘Master Plan Study on the Oil Palm industry in Ghana’ in July 2012. In cognizance with the improvement of oil palm development, Ghana can develop biofuel plan and its implementation through the production of ethanol from palm sap. In this study, four leading cultivators of oil palm were examined for the potential palm sap that can be derived. An estimated amount of 447.5 million litres of bioethanol can be obtained from these four producers which could be used to support E10 and E20 as stipulated in the Strategic National Energy Plan (SNEP) (2006-2020).