Possibilities and limitations of agricultural residue utilization for energy purposes

Abstract

Excessively development of agricultural lands for energy crop production can lead to food price increase. Therefore it’s recommended to use first of all residues from agricultural production like energy raw material. Agricultural residues are considered: straw, slurry, vegetable and animal residues obtained in farms and also in food industry. Raw materials with high cellulose content useful for solid biomass production like chips, briquettes pellet. Other residues with low level of dry matter content can be used for biogas production in methane fermentation process. It’s estimated that in Poland only in the agricultural sector, energy potential of unused biomass amounts to 104 PJ yearly.