Abstract
The necessity to investigate suitable alternatives to conventional fossil fuels has increased interest in several renewable energy resources, especially in biomasses that are widely available and make it possible to reach environmental and socio-economic improvements. Among solutions for bioenergy production, anaerobic digestion technology allows biogas production by reusing agricultural residues and agro-industrial by-products. By considering the basic concepts of the Biogasdoneright® method, the objective of this study was to estimate the theoretical potential net electricity and heat production from anaerobic digestion of citrus pulp and olive pomace highly available worldwide. A model was developed and applied in a study area of the Mediterranean basin, where the biogas sector is still very limited despite the importance of both agricultural and agro-industrial activities, especially with regard to citrus and olive cultivation processing. Firstly, the application of a geographical information system (GIS) software tool allowed the estimation of the biogas potentially produced from citrus pulp and olive pomace re-use. Then, the development of a technical assessment demonstrated that 15.9 GWh electricity and 88,000 GJ heat per year could be generated from these by-products, satisfying approximate 17% of the electricity demand of the agricultural sector of the study area (90.2 GWh y−1). The achieved results could be relevant with regard to the intervention priorities established by the European Union related to the planning activities supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds within the Smart Specialisation Strategy.
Highlights
The fast acceleration of industrialisation, combined with increased growth of population and urbanisation, has dramatically changed the world and the continuous climatic changes are signs of concern for the future of the planet [1]
With the aim of obtaining areas with the highest availability of both citrus pulp and olive pomace, the geographical information system (GIS) maps of Figure 2 were overlaid, and the results were reported in a new GIS map
The outcomes of this further analysis highlighted that the geographical areas reported in Figure 3a could be used to locate new biogas plants (Figure 3b) in order to minimize transportation costs due to logistics and supply phase of the considered biomasses
Summary
The fast acceleration of industrialisation, combined with increased growth of population and urbanisation, has dramatically changed the world and the continuous climatic changes are signs of concern for the future of the planet [1]. Carbon dioxide emissions are continuously increasing [2], mainly due to high fossil fuel consumption [3,4]. 85% of current energy consumption is based on fossil fuels, which are the most responsible source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and have a relevant role in global warming. According to the estimated world energy requirement, the energy demand would increase approximately by 36% between 2008 and 2035 [5]. According to the Kyoto protocol [6,7], a sustainable way to satisfy this demand is the implementation of renewable energy technologies in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels and, reduce CO2 and other. The harnessing of biomass for Energies 2019, 12, 470; doi:10.3390/en12030470 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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