Joël Blin

Energy efficiency and waste reuse: A solution for sustainability in poor West African countries? Case study of the shea butter supply chain in Burkina Faso

In West African countries, the objective of producer insertion in competitive markets is often associated with the need to modernize and mechanize production processes, i.e., replace labour by machines. This excludes traditional producers who can barely comply with the economic criteria but who must remain competitive to generate higher incomes. The challenge is to improve the efficiency of traditional methods in supply chains rather than imposing modern technologies that producers hardly adopt. Moreover, West African populations suffer from not having cheap and available energy sources. They, therefore, have to be imaginative for more efficient energy use in order to improve the productivity and quality of their products and support sustainable rural development and incomes. Building on the case study of the shea butter supply chain in Burkina Faso, this article proposes an original approach consisting of improved energy use for a more competitive and sustainable activity. The traditional butter producti...

Transesterification of Various Bio-oils: Application and Perspectives in Burkina Faso

The aim of this paper is to study and analyze the possibility of adapting the production of biodiesel in West African countries, in agreement with required standards, using local vegetable oils, for particular use in rural or remote regions. To achieve this study, an original approach based on Komers and Nourreddini theories is proposed, in order to identify the optimal conditions and parameters to produce high quality of biodiesel. Then, a pilot of transesterification is developed. The optimums obtained from theoretical simulations are used to synthetize biodiesels of various vegetable oils. Quantification in order to estimate the transesterification yield and the performance of the pilot is done. Different analytical methods for biodiesel characterization are used to determine main fuel properties including viscosity, density, water content, etc. The obtained values are then compared with international standards. This quality control is completed with gas chromatography for the quantification of tri-, di-, monoglycerides, free and total glycerol, which compose the final mixture of the various biodiesels produced. Good correlation between the results obtained and international standards values are found.

Effective coupling of phenol adsorption and photodegradation at the surface of micro-and mesoporous TiO2-activated carbon materials

Novel titania supported activated carbon catalysts were prepared by a straightforward titania coating route of a microporous activated carbon (AC) derived from shea nut shells, and investigated in phenol photocatalytic degradation. The proposed coating method enables a fixation of the preformed titania anatase nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) in the external porosity thus allowing their accessibility towards UV irradiation, without causing any reduction of the AC specific area. Interestingly, the coating treatment reshapes the porous texture of the as-prepared TiO2–AC composite materials resulting in an improvement of the adsorption capacity and the formation of an additional mesoporosity on the TiO2-AC surface. Photocatalytic experiments carried out in a batch reactor led to 97% elimination rate of phenol in an aqueous solution with the AC catalysts containing TiO2 NPs in the range from 11 to 34 wt%. The photodegradation performance of the TiO2–AC catalysts was maintained over several successive cycles, without the need of any regeneration treatment. Considering both the textural and microstructural features of the composite materials and their associated phenol removal kinetics, in this paper, we provide new insights into phenol photodegradation pathway involving an effective coupling of adsorption and photodegradation functionalities, resulting in a photo-assisted regeneration mechanism of the catalyst.

Yield and quality of charcoals from olive mill residues and its stone and pulp fractions: An enhanced comparative study

ABSTRACT Pyrolysis is a promising way to upgrade large amounts of residues from olive oil processing into charcoal. Pyrolysis of the stone and pulp fractions needed to be investigated before conclusions could be drawn. We subjected the olive stone fraction, the pulp fraction, and a mixture of the two to dynamic pyrolysis and isothermal pyrolysis at 360°C. We characterized the charcoals resulting from isothermal pyrolysis at 360°C for different durations in terms of the fixed-carbon content (FCC), carbon content (CC), and high heating value (HHV). We found that charcoal yield from the pulp was higher than that from the stones, which were 38.1% and 32.9%, respectively, after pyrolysis for 360 min. This seemingly unexpected result was due to the high contents of ash (6.22%) and extractives (13%) in the pulp, which remained completely and partially undecomposed, respectively, in the charcoals and are accounted for when calculating yields. However, charcoals obtained from the stones were of higher quality than charcoals from the pulp, with lower ash content and higher FCC, CC, and HHV. In particular, the FCC, CC, and HHV after pyrolysis for 360 min were 73.2%, 74.4%, and 30.2 MJ/kg for the stones and only 61.8%, 63.2%, and 25.9 MJ/kg for the pulp, respectively. Depending on the required quality of the final charcoal, our results help decide whether to pyrolyse the entire olive residues or only one of the two fractions, more likely the stones.

Optimization of Balanites aegyptiaca seeds supply chain for biofuel production in West Africa sahelian regions

Balanites aegyptiaca (B. aegyptiaca) is one of the plant species targeted and already studied for the production of oilseed-based biofuels. This paper presents an optimization model of B. aegyptiaca seeds supply chain in West African sahelian context. It has been developed considering the West Africa rural context where family farming is mainly practiced. The model has been applied to a theoretical case of study in the sub sahelian region of the Burkina Faso. Four scenarios on the location of the pre-processing and on the transportation means used between B. aegyptiaca feedstock growing areas and feedstock gathering points (GP) have been performed. Considering different feedstock growing areas with different territorial yield, and different transportation means, the results show that the most efficient option is the cart for transportation between the feedstock growing areas and the GP with the location of the pre-processing at the GP. The results also show that more than 65% of the seeds cost price at the biorefinery gate is composed of the transportation costs.

Solvent-free biodiesel production catalyzed by crude lipase powder from seeds: Effects of alcohol polarity, glycerol and thermodynamic water activity.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential of crude lipase powders made from Adansonia grandidieri and Jatropha mahafalensis seeds for the synthesis of fatty acid alkyl esters in a solvent-free system. The influence of the nature of the alcohol, the amount of glycerol, and hydration of the powder was investigated. Results showed that the activity of these crude lipase powders was inversely proportional to the alcohol polarity and the amount of the glycerol in the reaction medium. To ensure optimum activity, A. grandidieri and J. mahafalensis powders must be conditioned to a water activity of 0.33 and 0.66. To obtain a fatty acid ethyl ester yield greater than 95% with A. grandidieri, ethanol should be introduced at an amount corresponding to a triacylglycerol to ethanol molar ratio of 2:1 every 15 h for 96 h and use 25% of preconditioned crude lipase powders (2 additions of 12.5%).