New Technologies in the Processing of Agricultural Waste
L. L. Gishkaeva
1
and F. Ya. Polonkoeva
2
1
Chechen State University Named After A.A. Kadyrov, Grozny, Russia
2
Ingush State University, Magas, Russia
Keywords: Agricultural production, ecologically closed biological systems, farm animal waste, anaerobic methane
fermentation, biogas, biofertilizers.
Abstract: The article is concerned with the need for the transition of present-day production on the example of
agriculture to ecologically closed biological systems with a high level of resource and energy use. It is noted
that the possibility of a deep reorganization of business processes in the agricultural sector is due to the
ongoing fundamental changes in such areas as telecommunications, information technology, engineering
solutions. Modern biotechnologies allow farm animal waste to be used as raw materials for the production of
not only organic fertilizers, but also to obtain alternative fuels and feed from them. So, one of the examples
of the effective use of organic waste as animal manure is the technology of its anaerobic fermentation with
the production of gaseous fuel as biogas. Also, the development of this waste processing technology makes it
possible to disinfect waste and obtain high-quality organic fertilizers that are necessary for the development
of crop production industries. The regions of the Southern Federal District have great potential for the
development of biogas technologies that will not only meet their fuel needs for agricultural machinery and
transport, but also provide rural areas with heat and electricity.
1 INTRODUCTION
One of the most important problems of a global nature
that require immediate solution is the problem of
environmental protection. In accordance with the
Federal Laws of the Russian Federation "On
Environmental Protection" and "On Production and
Consumption Waste", the efficiency of production is
assessed taking into account its impact on the
environment. This also applies to the agricultural
sector of the economy, which has waste-intensive
production and its transition to ecologically closed
biological systems, with a high level of use of natural
resources and energy, can be considered as an
important direction in solving this problem.
Agriculture is an industry based on a large variety
of rapidly changing conditions and factors, which, in
turn, generate a huge amount of information
necessary for efficient production and adaptation of
agriculture to these and other external changes. To
date, the possibility of conducting a deep
reorganization of business processes in the
agricultural sector of the economy is determined by
the cardinal changes taking place in such related
fields of activity as telecommunications, information
technology, engineering solutions.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
In the course of this scientific research in the field of
the development of advanced waste treatment
technologies in agricultural production, the works of
well-known Russian scientists interested in the
problems of the development of highly ecological
industries were used.
According to Osmonov O.M., the production of
biogas during the anaerobic processing of organic
agricultural waste, in addition to the energy aspect as
the production of gaseous fuel, also has
environmental aspects of application - the cessation
of deforestation used for fuel, disinfection of waste
and agrochemical the production of organic
fertilizers for the growth of soil fertility.
Golubev I.G., Shvanskaya L.Yu., Konovalenko
L.Yu. and others note that in recent years, work has
been actively carried out in various countries of the
world, including Russia, to develop promising and
environmentally friendly technologies for preparing
manure for use as a raw material for biofuels.
Gishkaeva, L. and Polonkoeva, F.
New Technologies in the Processing of Agricultural Waste.
DOI: 10.5220/0011568400003524
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Methods, Models, Technologies for Sustainable Development (MMTGE 2022) - Agroclimatic Projects and Carbon Neutrality, pages
193-197
ISBN: 978-989-758-608-8
Copyright
c
2023 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
193
According to Sidorenko O.D., the technologies
under consideration are environmentally friendly,
since they allow transferring waste from a dangerous
source of pollution into valuable raw materials
needed in the production of fertilizers, combustible
materials, as well as feed.
When burning biogas, according to the
calculations of Zakharchenko A.N., there is a greater
heat release than when burning wood waste or
manure directly.
According to Kovalev A.A., the most active
process of methanogenesis is observed in mesophilic
conditions - 35-35 °C or thermophilic - 54-57 °C
temperature modes of fermentation.
As Zavarzin G.A. notes, up to several hundred
species of microorganisms are involved in the whole
complicated process of converting organic substances
into methane and carbon dioxide, and bacteria
predominate among them.
Currently, according to Varfolomeev S.D.,
Moiseeva I.I., Myasoedova B.F., technologization of
the use of renewable energy sources is taking place in
various directions, including direct conversion of
solar energy into electricity.
Pantskhava E.S.Pozharnov V.A., Shipilov M.M.
believe that the process of bioenergy development,
which relies on the conversion of biomass into
combustible gas and its further use, corresponds to the
infrastructure of modern traditional energy.
As noted by Khabibulin R.E., Yezhkova G.O.,
Reshetnik O.A., Russian regions differ in different
potential of biomass, which can be used in the energy
sector.
This work was carried out using such scientific
methods as statistical analysis, comparative analysis,
functional analysis, positive and normative analysis.
The scientific research was carried out in accordance
with the problem-chronological principle, the
principles of consistency and scientific objectivity.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The intensification of agricultural sectors in the
Russian economy in accordance with the program
"Accelerated development of animal husbandry"
within the framework of the priority national project
"Development of Agriculture" is aimed at a high level
of concentration of farm animals and poultry, their
maintenance using innovative technologies, reducing
the volume of straw litter used, ensuring the necessary
changes in the characteristics of organic waste during
their disposal in new ways. The presence of untreated
manure effluents near agricultural enterprises, as well
as their direct introduction into the soil, can lead to
various infections, biological and chemical
contamination of adjacent territories, groundwater,
and the air basin. Manure, animal wastes and manure
effluents are not only large tonnage, but also
dangerous types of agricultural waste, and the need
for their neutralization becomes an important task. At
the same time, farm animal waste, thanks to modern
biotechnologies, makes it possible to use them as raw
materials in the production of not only organic
fertilizers, but also alternative energy carriers and
feed.
According to various estimates, the annual
amount of organic waste from agricultural production
is 630-650 million tons, and the largest part of them
(56%) is formed in livestock and poultry farms of
various forms of ownership (Golubev, 2011). The
peculiarity of animal husbandry and poultry waste is
that they contain in their composition a significant
number of pathogenic microorganisms - agents of
infections. With large volumes of their formation,
untimely collection and removal of waste to places of
disposal and neutralization pose a serious threat to the
environment, polluting soil, groundwater, rivers and
reservoirs. According to some data, in the Russian
Federation, the volume of organic waste generated on
livestock farms annually amounts to 350 million tons
of cattle manure, 32 million tons of pig manure and
15 million tons of poultry manure (Sidorenko, 2018).
In this regard, it is worth noting that livestock
complexes as major pollutants negatively affect the
environment, while agricultural land needs manure,
which is a very valuable fertilizer of organic origin.
So, during the year, arable lands in the Non-
Chernozem zone of Russia lose organic matter in the
amount of 0.5-0.7 tons per 1 hectare, 1.0-1.5 tons per
1 hectare - in the Central Chernozem region, 0.3-0.7
in Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Far East
losses reach 0.6-1.0 tons per 1 hectare. Arable lands
in the country require the annual application of 840
million tons of organic fertilizers to restore soil
fertility, which on average is about 6 tons per 1
hectare of land (Sidorenko, 2018).
For these reasons, the main direction of using
farm animal waste in the form of manure and litter is
their use as an organic fertilizer to increase the
fertility of agricultural soils, since a large amount of
nutrients is present in the composition of manure. The
main types of organic farm animal waste are the
results of the vital activity of animals and birds grown
for the production of agricultural products in the form
of manure and litter.
Considering animal manure as an organic
fertilizer, it is always taken into account that fresh, i.e.
MMTGE 2022 - I International Conference "Methods, models, technologies for sustainable development: agroclimatic projects and carbon
neutrality", Kadyrov Chechen State University Chechen Republic, Grozny, st. Sher
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untreated manure contains a large number of
pathogenic microorganisms (pathogens of infectious
and invasive diseases of animals and humans) and
weed seeds that reduce the quantity and quality of
crop production. So, for one ton of fresh manure, on
average, there may be from 500 thousand to 5 million
different weed seeds, and therefore, when using such
manure as fertilizers, with the calculation of 50 tons
on the soil of the earth with a size of 1 hectare, 25-
250 million weed seeds are also entered. In the future,
when implementing such measures to get rid of
weeds, it often becomes necessary to resort to toxic
chemicals that are dangerous for both humans and
animals (Osmonov, 2006).
Thus, the direct use of fresh manure as fertilizer
without prior preparation (disinfection) is
unacceptable, therefore, aerobic and anaerobic
technologies are used to prepare manure for use. The
utilization of organic waste from animal husbandry
and poultry farming should provide for their effective
disinfection, the use of energy and agrochemical
potential of organic waste from agricultural
production.
The most rational way to use organic waste from
agricultural production in the form of animal manure
is the technology of their anaerobic fermentation to
produce gaseous fuel - biogas. In addition to the
energy aspect of obtaining fuel, such aspects as
environmental (waste disinfection) and agrochemical
(obtaining high-quality organic fertilizers) are of
great importance in the use of this waste processing
technology.
The energy effect that occurs when using the
technology of anaerobic fermentation of organic
waste as animal manure is due to the fact that, due to
incomplete absorption by animals from the plants
they eat of the solar energy generated as a result of
photosynthesis, more than half of it is deposited in
manure. So, for example, 26% of the energy received
by the cow's body from plant feeds in the process of
complex biological processes is spent on its vital
activity, 16% goes into dairy products, and up to 58%
of all the energy noted goes into manure (Osmonov,
2011).
Thus, it can be argued that animal manure is a very
valuable source of renewable energy. Also, in
addition to biogas, during anaerobic fermentation
during the processing of animal manure, the
germination of weed seeds is lost, various pathogens
and helminths are destroyed (Zakharchenko, 2005;
Osmonov, 2006; Osmonov, 2011). Biogas obtained
by anaerobic fermentation of organic waste consists
mainly of 50-70% of a mixture of methane and 20-
50% of carbon dioxide, may also contain a small
amount of hydrogen sulfide - 10%, from 0 to 10% of
hydrogen, 2-4% of water, up to 1% of nitrogen, even
less oxygen, ammonia and other various components.
Thus, the methane content in biogas is determined by
its rather high value of the heat of combustion.
Biogas from liquid manure, due to anaerobic
fermentation obtained from 100 heads of cattle, can
provide thermal energy, which gives 0.7 tons of fuel
oil, and electricity from biogas from the manure of
one cow per year, presented as fuel for a thermal
power plant, can be obtained up to about 900 kWh
(Osmonov, 2011).
The process of anaerobic fermentation of organic
animal waste is divided into two stages: the stage of
maturation of methane biocenosis and the stage of
methane formation. At the first stage, complex
organic compounds such as fats, proteins, fiber, etc.
are decomposed by various acid-forming
microorganisms into such simpler primary
fermentation products as lower alcohols, volatile fatty
acids, carbon monoxide, acetic and formic acids, etc.,
presented as food sources for the second
methanogenic group of bacteria carrying out the
second stage, in which gases such as carbon dioxide
and methane are produced (Kovalev, 1998).
The main bacteria involved in the formation of
biogas in the process of anaerobic methane
fermentation are methanogenic bacteria. During
anaerobic fermentation, the intensity of the gas
release process is determined by the conditions
necessary for the vital activity of methanogenic
bacteria. Methanogenic and acidogenic bacteria
present during anaerobic fermentation are found in
the digestive system of herbivorous animals
(Zavarzin, 1986).
Thus, it is sufficient to provide them with the
necessary conditions for the implementation of
anaerobic methane fermentation, which consist in the
fact that:
- firstly, it is necessary to achieve a complete
absence of oxygen in the air in the fermentation
liquid, i.e. a strictly anaerobic environment is
necessary;
- secondly, we need a certain concentration of
the substrate used, i.e. nutrients in the
fermentation liquid and the possibility of
achieving mass transfer;
- thirdly, during the fermentation process, it is
necessary to maintain a constant temperature
regime;
- fourth, it is also necessary to ensure the pH
regime in the fermentation liquid;
- fifth, the amount of inhibitor substances in the
fermented substrate should be low or absent
New Technologies in the Processing of Agricultural Waste
195
altogether.
When using special biogas plants with anaerobic
fermentation, it is possible to achieve a strictly
anaerobic environment.
During anaerobic fermentation, with the use of a
biogas plant, animal manure turns into organic
biofertilizer of high quality, exceeding in its
fertilizing value fresh animal excrement, due to the
fact that during fermentation, nutrients for plants
become more accessible. In a biogas reactor, as a
result of anaerobic fermentation, no more carbon is
lost compared to other methods of manure
stabilization, such as manure storage and composting.
Also, phosphorus and potassium are almost
completely preserved in fermented manure during its
anaerobic processing using a biogas reactor. This is
evidenced by the data obtained during periodic
quality control of fermented manure on such main
agronomic indicators as nitrogen, potassium,
phosphorus, etc.
Ensuring the necessary concentration during
fermentation of the substrate occurs by adding water
to animal manure, which is prepared for methane
fermentation, which leads to an increase in its initial
humidity. For methane fermentation, manure from 70
to 90% of the moisture content is generally suitable,
while humidity in the range from 88 to 92% is
considered optimal, at which the process of the most
intense gas release occurs during anaerobic
fermentation.
There are three characteristic temperature regimes
of fermentation, which are preferable for certain types
of methane-forming microorganisms:
- psychrophilic temperature regime - 8–20 °C;
- mesophilic temperature regime - 25–40 °C;
- thermophilic temperature regime - 45–65 °C.
In fresh manure, during anaerobic fermentation of
farm animal waste using a biogas reactor, weed seeds,
which are rich in manure, lose their germination, and
crop yields also increase when the fermented mass of
manure is applied as an organic fertilizer. All this
provides producers with the opportunity to grow an
environmentally friendly product without the use of
various types of pesticides harmful to both animals
and humans for weed control. Conducting anaerobic
processing of animal waste, in which pathogenic
microorganisms that are the causative agents of many
infectious diseases are destroyed, helps to reduce
bacterial contamination of both soils and
groundwater. Humus materials, which are present
during the fermentation of manure, lead to an
improvement in the physical qualities of the soil, and
the level of assimilation of nutrients by plants also
increases due to the fact that minerals for the activity
of soil microorganisms are a source for their energy
and nutrition.
Biofertilizers, thus, contribute to the preservation
in the feedstock in an easily digestible form of all the
nitrogen and other nutrients contained in it, so
necessary for plants. Compared with manure that has
rotted under natural conditions, most of the helminth
eggs, weed seeds, and pathogenic microorganisms
present in untreated manure die in biofertilizers
obtained by fermenting manure using biogas reactors.
Also, if mineral fertilizers are rich in nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium, then there are no chemical
substitutes for protein, cellulose, lignin contained in
biofertilizers obtained in biogas reactors during the
anaerobic fermentation of fresh manure.
To date, Russia has a high resource potential for
the production of fuel from biomass. In the country,
the annual volume of organic waste reaches 750
million tons, of which 150 million tons are livestock
waste, in crop production their number reaches 100
million tons (Varfolomeev, 2009; Pantskhava, 2007).
The results of the assessment of the prospects for the
development of renewable energy production from
organic waste in the country indicate that the volume
of biogas from 624 million tons organic waste can
reach up to 31-75 billion m
3
, from which, in turn, it is
possible to simultaneously receive 150 billion kWh of
electricity and 150 Gcal of thermal energy, or replace
gasoline in the amount of 37 million tons when it is
used in transport (Pantskhava, 2007).
Due to differences in climatic conditions and the
level of development of agricultural and industrial
sectors, Russian regions have different biomass
potential suitable for use in the energy sector, but
despite this, up to 1 billion tons of organic fertilizers
are formed in all variants (Khabibullin, 2016). The
Southern Federal District is among the promising
ones regarding the development of biogas
technologies. According to calculations, this region
accounts for up to 49% of the total potential of the
country, meaning that it is possible to produce from
agricultural waste from 24 to 28 billion m
3
of biogas.
The demand of the rural population of the region (9.7
million people) for electricity reaches 14 billion kWh
per year, which will require up to 6 billion m
3
of
biogas or 20-25% of the total volume of its
production, 3.4 million tons are annual gasoline costs,
4.3 million tons are diesel fuel, and this is equivalent
to 15.4 billion m
3
of biogas. Consequently, the district
can meet its fuel needs for agricultural machinery and
transport only with its own biogas, and rural
territories can meet their needs for thermal and
electric energy (Pantskhava, 2007).
MMTGE 2022 - I International Conference "Methods, models, technologies for sustainable development: agroclimatic projects and carbon
neutrality", Kadyrov Chechen State University Chechen Republic, Grozny, st. Sher
196
4 CONCLUSIONS
Biogas production in the world is increasing and
expanding its borders, covering more and more
countries in this process. In terms of the number of
operating biogas power plants, China and India are
the leaders. African states accounted for 2 million
biogas plants, which supplied about 10 million people
with gas, while the biogas market of this continent
reached 20 million installations of potential capacity.
More than 150 thousand biogas plants were used in
Nepal, their number in Vietnam was 25 thousand, and
there are plans for the future of these countries to put
these plants into operation more and more
(Khabibullin, 2016).
In general, the windows of opportunity for the
country consist in greater participation and leadership
in various integration associations, establishing
constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation
with new players in the global geopolitical space,
active participation in the reform of the global
governance system and international economic and
trade institutions, including to strengthen their
positions in new international markets.
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