Valorization of Agricultural Wastes in Europe and Latin America

José Gómez – Katherine Alvino – Yassmine Abdallah | Biomass | REST master

The problem: management of Qualitative comparison: Dedicated vs

agricultural wastes Potential energy production
agricultural waste
Agriculture activities generate important amounts of organic waste with potential for different
applications. Wood and crops out of specification, leaves, grass and other residues could be valorized
but in some cases, especially in developing countries, they are burned at open sky, particularly in
Argent Bolivia
Latin America, in Mexico, Brasil and Bolivia the technique is widely used. This practice has ina Agricultural Dedicated Agricultural Dedicated
EU
several consequences on the environment and the health of the communities, some of them are: Potential production of lignocellulose Energy potential from agricultural waste crops waste crops
from agricultural residues residues
Technical indicators: Global warming mitigation
• Emission of air pollutants as ammonia (NH3), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), PM2.5, dioxines (highly 180000000
Agricultural inputs Global warming potential

QUANTITY (MILLION TONNES)

160000000 Argentina
toxic) and GHG impacting the health of the nearby populations (cancer and respiratory problems) 140000000 Co-utilization Non-renewable energy minimization
and the air quality. 120000000
Brazil Ease of application Land requirement minimization
• Soil erosion, long term loss of nutrients, productivity and humidity of the soil. 100000000
80000000 Potential production
Brazil
Potential of transferability Economical indicators
60000000 of ethanol from Long-term sustainability Socio-cultural indicators
40000000
On the other hand, the necessity of cleaner energy is increasing, dedicated crops have a strong 20000000
lignocellulose Europe Environmental indicators Public acceptance
conflict against food agriculture. The cost of opportunity of lands is almost reaching restrictive limits 0 Environmental protection Public behaviour (awareness,
EU Brazil Argentina Bolivia 0 2 4 6 8 10
and the organic wastes could have the potential to generate energy in the form of electricity, heat or High Heating Value (EJ)
Biodiversity preservation participation)
Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin
fuels without competing with food crops.
Excellent
Good
Neutral
Objectives Poor
Bad
• Assessing the potentials of agricultural residues for energy
in Europe and Latin America
• Critical review of current waste management in these two Valorization Projects EU-Latin America
•
regions
Comparison and description of actual projects for potential
Agriculture waste management : France
improvements on treatment, disposal or valorization. • OLEICO (Italy) Phyto-depuration. Demonstration plant for phyto-depuration from olive
oil mill (Evaluation score: 31.3/45)
• INTEGRASTE (Greece), using anaerobic digestion to produce electrical and thermal
Dry weight
Theoretical energy. (Evaluation score: 25.1/45)
(thousands of Use/Availability
amount available
tonnes per year) • Bolivia, Argentina and Spain have signed a contract on Environmental Sensitization
and use of agricultural residues from harvesting sugarcane in December 2017, that
~Use for poultry
Cereal straw litter / 2906 aims to generate electrical energy, herbicidal action, organic fertilizers, pelleting, use
Agricultural residue potential (wheat, barley)
24487
available for
energy
of enzymatic hydrolysis.

Oilseed straw, ~Use for poultry

(rapeseed, litter /164
Agricultural wastes assessed : Primary residues - originated from crop harvest (straw for sunflower,
1307
available for
wheat, soy bean, barley and rapeseed; stover and cob for maize, bagasse and top+leaves for soybean) energy
sugar cane, and top for sugar beet) Maize stover

Countries included in the analysis : States of the European Union*, Brazil, Argentina and
and cob
5239 Not used ~5239
Conclusions
Bolivia. *excluding Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar and Luxembourg. Sugar beet tops 0 0

Parameters : • Agricultural wastes, must of the time underestimated, have the potential to generate
• Types of crops and annual crop production important amounts of biofuels, compost or other sources of energy. The economical
• Yields of crops aspects must be assessed.
• Crop residue-to-yield ratios, depending on the crop yields Valorization technologies for biomass • Maintenance of highly productive cropping for energy production requires a high amount
• Crop residue removal rate according to the requirements for soil conservation of resources, that can be avoided by using currently existent wastes, which imply a
problem for management, themselves.
• Competitive use of crop residues for animal bedding (for France only)
Thermochemical Physicochemi Biochemical • In order to meet energy demands, it is required to combine an adequate amount of
cal dedicated crops and waste material.
350000000 Direct Gasification Pyrolysis Extraction and Fermentation Methanation Composting
Bolivia
combustion Esterification
Argentina
300000000 EU Principle/ Mass burning. Conversion with Thermal Esterification Degradation of Anaerobic Degradation of
QUANTITY (MILLION TONNES FRESH WEIGHT)

Limitations No pre- limited amounts of degradation with alcohols. sugars by digestion in organic matter by
250000000 treatrment.
Ashes and
oxygen. without O2. microorganisms controlled
reactors.
aerobic
microorganisms. References
emissions.
200000000
Products With or w/o Syngas Biodiesel Vegetable Ethanol Biogas-H2 Compost-Fertilizer
Brazil heat recovery oil/Biodiesel Digest • Fischer, G., Prieler, S., van Velthuizen, H., Lensink, S., Londo, M. and de Wit, M. (2010). Biofuel production
150000000
potentials in Europe: Sustainable use of cultivated land and pastures. Part I & II. Biomass and Bioenergy,
34(2), pp.159-187.
Type de - Woody materials. Woody Rapeseed and Sugar canne, Applied for Preferred sugary
100000000 • de Wit, M. and Faaij, A. (2010). European biomass resource potential and costs. Biomass and Bioenergy,
feedstock Rich on cellulose, materials (low other fatty acid wheat, maize. homogeneous materials (as 34(2), pp.188-202.
hemicellulose and ash content and species. wet OW and grass, easier to
• Scarlat, N., Martinov, M. and Dallemand, J. (2010). Assessment of the availability of agricultural crop residues
50000000 lignin. HQ bio-oil waste water degradate) in the European Union: Potential and limitations for bioenergy use. Waste Management, 30(10), pp.1889-1897.
produced)
• Bentsen, N., Felby, C. and Thorsen, B. (2014). Agricultural residue production and potentials for energy and
0 materials services. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 40, pp.59-73.
EU Brazil Argentina Bolivia Level of Widely Limited Limited Widely Widely Widely Widely deployed
Wheat Maize Soybean Barley Rapeseed Sugar cane Sugar beet deployment deployed in deployment. deployment. deployed deployed deployed, • 2014 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Statistics
the EU. includes
http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC
landfilling gas • LES SYNTHĖSES de FranceAgriMer / L'observatoire national des ressources en biomasse – Évaluation des
production. ressources disponibles en France / édition décembre 2015