Evaluation of Croatian agricultural solid biomass energy potential

Abstract

Agricultural solid biomass has been widely recognized as an important source of renewable energy with huge production potential. The utilisation of agricultural solid biomass as feedstock for energy production is continuously growing all over Europe. As shown in the current country's balance of energy production and consumption, Croatia is highly dependent on imported fossil fuels. The aim of this paper is to determine the available agricultural solid biomass and its energy potential in Croatia. The quantity and energy potential of solid biomass refer to post-harvest residues, pruning residues, agro-industrial solid waste and biomass from Miscanthus energy crop. In relation to potentially available agricultural biomass, three scenarios have been developed (progressive – S1, optimistic - S2, and conservative – S3) of introducing solid biomass in the renewable energy production sector. On the basis of these scenarios, it can be concluded that in Croatia the following quantities of agricultural biomass are available: 3050.3 t (S1); 1441.8 t (S2); and 733.68 t (S3). These quantities give energy potential of 51.14 PJ (S1), 24.06 PJ (S2), and 12.18 PJ (S3) respectively.