Bioconversion of Egypt’s agricultural wastes into biogas and compost

Abstract

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 46.7×106 tons year-1. Bioconversion can convert those AWs into about 12.6×109 m3 year-1 of biogas with about 60% methane, which is equal to 7.6×109 m3 of natural gas (NG), and/or ≈ 10×106 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.