Assessment and Contribution of Biomass Residues to Renewable Energy Resources in Egypt

Abstract

AbstractAlthough using fossil fuels in energy sector has led to economic growth in different fields, it caused an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, in consequence, global warming and climate change. Biomass use is essential for energy production and environmental protection. Studies on biomass residues, biomass energy, and environmental impacts of straw to energy chain in Egypt as a case study were reviewed in this chapter. The studies showed that a significant amount of biomass wastes from the main sources of agricultural, municipal solid wastes, animal and sewage sludge, with a total energy potential of 416.9 PJ. The annual dry biomass wastes amount from crop residues is about 12.33 million tons, and 63.75% of these residues are generated from rice straw. Thus, the use of rice straw as a renewable fuel for energy generation could reduce fossil fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, and air pollution caused by open burning. Direct combustion recorded the highest technique for energy recovery from rice straw. Water washing of rice straw as a pretreatment method resulted in a reduction of undesirable inorganic compounds related to ash problems in consequence, improving the combustion behavior. On the other hand, anaerobic co-digestion of rice straw with sewage sludge showed a significant increase in the energy (six times) that could be obtained from solo sludge. The environmental impacts study indicated the largest share of the total energy consumed and GHG emissions was due to paddy production and transportation, respectively. The annual energy potential from power plant and anaerobic digestion plant was estimated at 4,193 GWh of electricity and 25,647 TJ of biogas energy, respectively. Thus, the use of rice straw as an energy source helps in reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution caused by open burning with about 3 Mt CO2-eq of GHG emissions.KeywordsBiomassEgyptEnvironmental impactsRice strawSustainable energy