BIO4Africa has developed and piloted fully operational, small-scale green biorefinery units in Uganda and Ghana. Developed by Grassa, the technology was initially adapted to feedstock in Uganda, where the first biorefinery was installed in 2022. The priority was to maintain a simple design for low-cost operation with a minimum of technical skills. Installation in Ghana began in late 2023.

Using green leaves from local crops and legumes, the biorefinery is designed to produce dry protein concentrate, a fibre/protein press cake and whey juice containing minerals and sugar.

Each product has been evaluated in feeding trials – the protein concentrate in pig and poultry feed, the press cake in feed for dairy cows and the whey juice in piglet feed.

The press cake has also been tested in biochar production by pyrolysis.