Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
close to settlements. Problems are inversely proportional to the distance
separating a plant from its neighbors. Minimum distances need to be
considered. Potential conflicts are usually related to odor emissions, noise
and increased transport. The dirtying of roads is also an important issue,
especially during harvesting seasons of energy crops. In some regions where
mainly corn is used as feedstock (Germany), negative perception is placed
on the increasing number of corn monocultures. Intercropping with
sunflowers, for example, may reduce this perception. Involvement and
communication with neighbors during the planning phase is therefore a
must. A recent increasing concern in regions with a high density of biogas
installations, as is the case in some regions of Germany, is potential
competition with other biogas plant operators and farmers. This includes
competition on leaseholds for energy crop production, which may increase
lease prices for agricultural land. In the case of biogas plants using organic
waste, the competition for waste material as a feedstock is also increasing.
2.5
Conclusion
There is a large variety of biomass types and categories suitable as
feedstocks for the production of biogas using AD. Each feedstock material
is defined by specific characteristics and parameters, which are technically
described in Chapter 3 of this topic. Each has benefits and limitations,
influencing suitability, local availability as well as overall biomass logistics
and biogas plant location. Nowadays, agricultural by-products such as
animal manures, crop residues, organic wastes from food and feed industries
and municipal and household wastes are valuable feedstock materials for
biogas production. In the last decade, energy crops have been added to this
list of biogas feedstocks. The industrial sector also uses biogas technologies
to treat organic-loaded wastewaters and to recover energy.
It is estimated that the use of conventional crops for energy could be
increased in the medium term - with careful consideration of land
availability and food demand - on marginal, degraded and surplus
agricultural lands. In the longer term, aquatic biomass may prove to have
potential as a valuable energy feedstock, including for biogas. In the short
term, attention will probably focus primarily on increased recycling and
utilization of agricultural by-products and residues, of which animal
manures and slurries have the largest potential, as well as towards the use
of suitable organic wastes from households and municipalities generated by
the ever-increasing world population.
The limited agricultural area and the price fluctuations of energy crops
will increase the need for research into modern agricultural systems with
high productivity and improved sustainability. Intercropping and mixed
cropping systems, the use of new energy crops and breeding efforts will be
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