Harnessing cassava-based ethanol for rural communities: A conditional circular pathway to reduce biomass dependence in rural Congo

Cooking energy in rural areas of Kinshasa Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, relies almost entirely on traditional biomass, generating persistent health burdens, forest degradation, and physical drudgery in the absence of modern cooking alternatives at the village level. Although numerous clean cooking initiatives have been implemented, limited attention has been paid to informal, locally embedded biomass transformation systems. This study addresses this gap by examining the sustainability potential of cassava-based ethanol in Bita, a rural community on the Bateke Plateau. Drawing on empirical fieldwork conducted among 287 rural households, the study combines a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment framework (LCA) and a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to compare two ethanol production pathways—an artisanal cassava–maize system and a field-replicated cassava-only pathway—and to assess ethanol alongside firewood and charcoal. The analysis evaluates whether locally produced ethanol can reduce key burdens associated with biomass dependence under realistic rural conditions. Results show that ethanol achieves a higher composite MCDA score (3.19) than firewood (2.62) and charcoal (2.71), reflecting improvements in health-related performance, reduced physical effort, and lower pressure on forest resources. However, these gains are accompanied by trade-offs related to water intensity, production efficiency, and scalability, particularly under seasonal water constraints and limited institutional support. Overall, cassava-based ethanol emerges as a context-dependent niche pathway within biomass-dependent energy systems rather than a universal solution for rural energy transitions. • Rural households rely almost exclusively on biomass fuels. • Cassava ethanol is a local niche, not a universal solution. • LCA reveals environmental trade-offs across ethanol pathways. • MCDA shows health gains and reduced forest pressure. • Water use and scalability constrain ethanol adoption.