Agricultural waste in the context of "Biogas"

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⭐ Core Definition: Agricultural waste

Agricultural waste are plant residues from agriculture. These waste streams originate from arable land and horticulture. Agricultural waste are all parts of crops that are not used for human or animal food. Crop residues consist mainly of stems, branches (in pruning), and leaves. It is estimated that, on average, 80% of the plant of such crops consists of agricultural waste.

The four most commonly grown agricultural crops worldwide are sugarcane, maize, cereals and rice. The total weight of all these crops is more than 16,500 billion kilograms per year. Since 80% of this consists of agricultural waste, many tens of thousands of billions of kilograms of agricultural waste remain worldwide. Some 700 million tonnes of agricultural waste is produced annually by the EU.

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👉 Agricultural waste in the context of Biogas

Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic digester, biodigester or a bioreactor. The gas composition is primarily methane (CH
4
) and carbon dioxide (CO
2
) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H
2
S
), moisture and siloxanes. The methane can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used in fuel cells and for heating purposes, such as in cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat.

Biogas can be upgraded to natural gas quality specifications by stripping carbon dioxide and other contaminants. Biogas that has been upgraded to interchangeability with natural gas is called Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). RNG can be used a drop-in fuel in the gas grid or to produce compressed natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

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In this Dossier

Agricultural waste in the context of Organic waste

Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane, compost, humus, and simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. It mainly includes kitchen waste (spoiled food, trimmings, inedible parts), ash, soil, dung and other plant matter. In waste management, it also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria. Such materials include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple sulfates which can be decomposed by sulfate reducing bacteria to yield hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic land-fill conditions.

In domestic waste collection, the scope of biodegradable waste may be narrowed to include only those degradable wastes capable of being handled in the local waste handling facilities. To address this, many local waste management districts are integrating programs related to sort the biodegradable waste for composting or other waste valorization strategies, where biodegradable waste gets reused for other products, such as using agricultural waste for fiber production or biochar.

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Agricultural waste in the context of Biogasoline

Biogasoline is a type of synthetic gasoline produced from biomass such as algae and plants. Like traditionally petroleum-derived gasoline, biogasoline is made up of hydrocarbons with 6 (hexane) to 12 (dodecane) carbon atoms per molecule, and can be directly used in conventional internal combustion engines. However, unlike traditional gasoline, which are fractionally distilled from crude oil and thus are non-renewable fossil fuels, biogasolines are renewable biofuels made from algal materials, energy crops such as beets and sugarcane, and other cellulosic residues traditionally regarded to as agricultural waste.

Biofuels most often apply to the product of compounded biomass substance called feedstocks. Biomass is abstract in nature and used to produce gasoline that generates net-zero carbon emissions through a process called gasification. There are multi-various methods through which this fuel can be produced; however, determining the optimal gasification route through which to apply a particular feedstock or biomass relies on experimentation and trial and error.

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Agricultural waste in the context of Biomass (energy)

In the context of energy production, biomass is matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms which is used for bioenergy production. Examples include wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues including straw, and organic waste from industry and households. Wood and wood residues is the largest biomass energy source today. Wood can be used as a fuel directly or processed into pellet fuel or other forms of fuels. Other plants can also be used as fuel, for instance maize, switchgrass, miscanthus and bamboo. The main waste feedstocks are wood waste, agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, and manufacturing waste. Upgrading raw biomass to higher grade fuels can be achieved by different methods, broadly classified as thermal, chemical, or biochemical.

The climate impact of bioenergy varies considerably depending on where biomass feedstocks come from and how they are grown. For example, burning wood for energy releases carbon dioxide. Those emissions can be significantly offset if the trees that were harvested are replaced by new trees in a well-managed forest, as the new trees will remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. However, the farming of biomass feedstocks can reduce biodiversity, degrade soils and take land out of food production. It may also consume water for irrigation and fertilisers.

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