Abstract

Indigenous plant species from the guinea savanna ecological zone are an important biomass source.
However, their fuel characteristics and the mineral concentrations are less studied. The present study
investigated the fuel characteristics and the mineral concentrations of 3 tree and 10 shrub species from the
guinea savanna ecological zone of Ghana. The aim was to explore their potential for biomass production.
Moisture content (MC), basic density (BD) and the net calorific value (NCV) as well as the C, N, ash
content and minerals (Na, Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, As, Mg, K, Ca, P) were determined in triplicate. NCV
ranged between 16.02 ± 0.11 and 18.75 ± 0.40 MJ.kg-1
. Ten of the 13 species showed high ash contents in
excess of 3%.All the species exhibited sufficient heating values to warrant their usage as biomass
feedstock. However, higher slagging, fouling and corrosion potentials would be exhibited by the species
due to their higher ash contents