Charcoal Production Systems from Smallholder Plantation implications on Carbon Emission and Sustainable Livelihood Benefits in North Western Ethiopia

Abstract Charcoal production from Eucalyptus camaldulensis small-scale plantations has considerable socioeconomic benefits and improves livelihoods in Ethiopia. Nonetheless, charcoal is produced using traditional earth mound kilns, resulting in poor efficiency, lower charcoal income, and pollution of the environment. This research evaluates the charcoal conversion efficiency, cost-benefit analysis, and emission of gases from improved charcoal-making kilns from Eucalyptus camaldulensis small-scale plantations compared to traditional earth mound kilns. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with a level of significance of t 0.05. The result of the study shows significant (P < 0.001) variation in charcoal conversion efficiency among the different tested kilns, with the order of green mad retort kiln (33.7%) > Casamance kiln (32.09%) > MRV steel kiln (28.25%) > traditional earth mound kilns (23.55%). Improved charcoal-making kilns increased the efficiency of wood-to-charcoal conversion by 20–43% compared to the traditional earth mound kilns. The financial profitability analysis revealed that Casamance improved kilns generate the highest equivalent annual charcoal income (117126.9 ETB year-1) followed by Green Mad Retort (82893.8 ETB year-1) and MRV steel kilns (58495.9 ETB year-1) respectively. As was expected, the lowest net present value was found from traditional earth mound kilns (47304.3 ETB year-1). The carbonization time of traditional earth mound kilns was significantly (P < 0.001) the longest, with 3.6 times in the Mark V kiln and 2 times in the Casamance kiln. Furthermore, statistical analysis shows that improved charcoal-making technology reduces the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 36.1–50.7%, carbon monoxide (CO) by 39.2–54.3%, and methane (CH4) by 29.6–47%. In general, a shift from traditional to cleaner, renewable, and environmentally friendly charcoal kilns is needed.