Chapter 11 - Agricultural waste: An exploration of the innovative possibilities in the pursuit of long-term sustainability

Abstract

Agriculture waste is generated from crop residues, plantations, flower or floriculture, aquaculture and orchards, etc. Apart from crop residues, many associated wastes like animal waste, poultry excreta, dairy and food products waste and carcasses, etc. also constitute agriwaste. Now-a-days, a great attention is toward long-term environment sustainability and enhancing nation's growth; therefore, these wastes need to be converted into value-added products through suitable conversion technologies. Some of the value-added products like biofertilizer, industry important enzymes, animal feed and vitamins, bio sorbents, hydrogen production, biofuels like ethanol, methanol and gaseous fuels, etc. are currently produced from these wastes. The need for the hour is to convert these agrowaste residues into useful value-added products and enhance the sustainability of the agricultural processes and technologies utilized to convert these wastes into valuable products. The technology utilized should use these waste materials instantly or preserve them for a longer time without being spoiled. By-products produced should be easily marketed and must have some economic value. This chapter mainly focuses on utilizing agriculture wastes into fertilizers, industrial enzymes, low-cost bioadsorbents, animal feed, pyrolysis or gasification-based products, manure using aerobic or anaerobic digestion, agrocement, supplements and vitamins.