Biomass Potential from Agricultural Waste for Energetic Utilization in Greece

Abstract

The alignment of the Greek national legislation with the corresponding EU legislation has enhanced the national efforts to pursue renewable Combined Heat and Power (CHP) projects. The scope of the present study has been the identification of the available biomass resources and the assessment of their potential. In this paper, we present the results from the administrative regions of Crete, Thessaly, and Peloponnese. The levels of lignocellulosic biomass in Greece are estimated to be 2,132,286 tonnes on an annual basis, values that are very close to the cases of other Mediterranean countries like Italy and Portugal. In respect to the total agricultural residues, Crete produces 1,959,124 tonnes/year and Thessaly produces 1,759,457 tonnes/year. The most significant streams are identified to be olive pits, olive pruning, and cotton ginning remnants, with more than 100,000 tonnes/year each. In the latter part of this manuscript, a case study is presented for the development of a CHP gasification facility in Messenia. The biomass energy potential of the area is very promising, with about 3,800,000 GJ/year. The proposed small-scale gasification technology is expected to utilize 7956 tonnes of biomass per year and to produce 6630 MWh of electricity and 8580 MWh of thermal energy.

Machine Performance and Hog Fuel Quality Evaluation in Olive Tree Pruning Harvesting Conducted Using a Towed Shredder on Flat and Hilly Fields

“…wherein these countries olive oil production has represented an export-oriented industrial activity for at least two millennia [1]. Considering the large amount of pruning residues that derive from olive groves' maintenance, these could be important sources of biomass, akin to pruning residues from other crops [2][3][4][5][6][7]. However, until now, the management of pruning residue has generally represented a disposal problem rather than an opportunity for additional revenue, even if its potential has already been stated [8][9][10].…”

Analysis of Plant-Production-Obtained Biomass in Function of Sustainable Energy

“…In India, the share of burned crop residue ranges from 8 to 80% [49,50], with the crop residues most frequently burned coming from rice (43%), wheat (about 21%), sugar cane (about 19%), and oilseeds (about 5%) [50,51]. In Europe, specifically in Greece, it has been recorded that the remaining amounts of biomass in the fields are burned [52].…”

Evaluation of the biogas potential of agricultural biomass waste for energy applications in Greece: A case study of the western Greece region

“…Therefore, the calculation was made keeping in mind the following: (a) the production zone and the harvest varieties; (b) the cultivation yields; (c) the ratios of crop residue to harvest dependent on crop yields; and (d) the degree of field removal (availability) of crop residues based on the harvesting method. As the number of primary agrarian remnants relates explicitly to agricultural productivity (equation (1)), the estimates are built on the residue-to-product ratio characterizing Greek agricultural activity (Alatzas et al, 2019; Moustakas et al, 2020; Scarlat et al, 2010; Vlyssides et al, 2015). To be appropriate for Greece, crop yield values are derived from texts of the Hellenic Ministry of Agricultural Development.…”