Energy Recovery from Cashew Waste: Advancing Circular Economy Practices in Burkina Faso

The cashew processing industry in Burkina Faso generates substantial quantities of lignocellulosic residues mainly composed by cashew nutshells (CNS) about 70-75%, which remain largely unexploited. Households and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the agro-industrial sector of Burkina Faso are struggling to meet their energy needs, relying on unconventional sources that contribute to deforestation and climate change. This study assesses the energetic valorisation of cashew nutshell into biofuel, within the framework of a circular economy. Twelve circular economy scenarios have been assessed including close loop recovery and open loop scenario. In the closed loop scenario, SMEs produce their own byproducts (CNS) and convert it locally to biofuel (biochar or briquettes) that they will use. In the opened loop scenarios, CNS are produced by SMEs and sold to others for their energy supply. A multicriteria decision making approach based on hybrid Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods have been developed to assess the scenarios based on economic, environment and social criteria. The findings revealed that profit was the most influential criterion (49.6%) in selecting the best scenario, followed by production cost (27.8%), carbon footprint (16.0%), and job creation (6.7%).