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Spotted: In Ghana, cassava stands as a pillar of agricultural output, contributing significantly to the nation’s economy. However, the energy-intensive process of transforming raw cassava into usable products poses challenges, from cleaning, mashing, and sieving to the crucial step of drying.

To tackle these challenges head-on, researchers at Birmingham’s Aston University have partnered up with a prominent player in the cassava processing sector, the Tropical Starch company, aiming for a sustainable solution.

Current conventional cassava drying methods used by the Tropical Starch Company rely heavily on fossil fuels for heat generation, contributing to environmental concerns, operating costs, and inconsistencies in product quality. The collaborative effort seeks to disrupt this paradigm by introducing an off-grid, solar-powered drying system, which is quicker, temperature-controllable, uses less energy, and can process larger amounts of raw cassava.

The proposed solar-driven system offers a compelling alternative. Besides guaranteeing product quality and consistency, this innovative approach reduces reliance on non-renewable energy sources – in turn, mitigating the carbon footprint associated with cassava processing.

Project supervisor and senior lecturer in mechanical engineering Dr Ahmed Rezk has spoken to Springwise about what the future looks like for this partnership. Rezk explains that the focus will move towards refining the system for reliability, efficiency, and scalability, paving the way for commercial use.

Springwise has spotted other innovators harnessing the abundance of the sun to process raw materials, from a solar-powered manufacturing process to a cobalt processing facility.

Written By: Georgia King