The Agrobiogas Project
Annually around 700 million tons of agricultural waste are produced within the EU which represents a high load for farmers who are obligated to get rid of this waste So far, manure and crop residues have been receiving the cheapest treatments although these are not the most efficient. ? Upgrading to biogas (AD) by means of anaerobic digestionrepresents an alternative treatment with a lot of potential as it not only prevents pollution, but also allows for energy and nutrient recovery.
There are still many challenges to be solved in order to make this technology effective in treating agricultural waste and widely accessible to European farmers. Its distribution is still scattered in the EU and farmers, depending on their location, have different opportunities to apply this technology. It is necessary to clarify which are the best conditions, adapted to local situations to treat the targeted residues and make this information accessible to farmers through the IAGs which represent them.
The possibility of co-digestion opens a door to plenty of farmers who could be able to treat their own waste together with other organic substrates. By these means, farmers will treat their own residues properly and at the same time, they could make a profit by treating and managing organic waste from other sources (waste disposal and management fees) and by selling and/or using its outputs: heat and electrical power together with a stabilised biofertiliser.
The aim of the proposing IAGs is to gather and gain knowledge about financial, legal and technical requirements to develop feasible agricultural AD treatments for different local conditions to further transfer it to their SME members. This will strengthen the competitiveness of AD treatment of agriculture waste against other treatments and will ensure the compliance with the European and national environmental legislation.
Objectives
In order to enhance the actual European development of decentralised anaerobic digestion (AD) the AGROBIOGAS project has the following objectives.
I. To increase the efficiency of AD with agricultural waste in co-digestion with other organic residues:
II. To gather the scattered information about biogas local projects and make it accessible to farmers and farmers associations, ensuring a successful performance of current and future AD plants
III. To reduce the uncontrolled disposal of AD sludge by the development of recommendations for the use of it as biofertilise
IV. To train the IAGs in utilisation of the Helpdesk components, the co-fermentation substrate database and in applying the bio-fertiliser recommendations.
V. To disseminate the generated knowledge.
For further information please consult the project website:
www.agrobiogas.eu
