Bioconversion of Egypt's agricultural wastes into biogas and compost

0484033 - ÚBO 2018 RIV PL eng J - Journal Article
Elfeki, M. - Elbestawy, E. - Tkadlec, Emil
Bioconversion of Egypt's agricultural wastes into biogas and compost.
Polish Journal of Environmental Studies. Roč. 26, č. 6 (2017), s. 2445-2453. ISSN 1230-1485. E-ISSN 2083-5906
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : agricultural wastes * biogas in Egypt * bioconversion * compost in Egypt * organic wastes
OECD category: Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)
Impact factor: 1.120, year: 2017

This study focuses on the bioconversion of agricultural wastes (AWs) in rural Egypt. We analyzed data derived from literature to implement a future image suiting Egypt's situation. Despite the limited information in the field of management of agricultural wastes in Egypt and the gap between formal and practical data, the studies consistently showed that bioconversion is suitable to sustainably treat the unused part of AWs, which is about 52% of a total of 46.7x10(6) tons year(-1). Bioconversion can convert those AWs into about 12.6x10(9) m(3) year(-1) of biogas with about 60% methane, which is equal to 7.6x10(9) m(3) of natural gas (NG), and/or approximate to 10x10(6) tons year(-1) of compost. The produced biogas from anaerobic digestion (AD) can contribute to about 13% of the Egypt's total NG production, meanwhile, compost will increase the total production of fertilizers in Egypt at more than 60%. This suggests that decision makers, researchers, and engineers should draw more attention to bioconversion as an efficient management tool for resolving the growing problem of agricultural wastes in rural areas.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0279192