Sicilian potential biogas production

Abstract

This study is aimed at predicting the Sicilian potential biogas production, using the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), animal manure and food industry by-products, in a region where only one biogas plant using MSW and one co-digestion plant are nowadays available. The statistical data about OFMSW, the number of animals bred in medium and large farms and the amounts of by-products of food processing industries were evaluated, in order to compute the Sicilian potential biogas and energy production. The OFMSW produced in Sicily, that is 0.8 million tons ca. per year (37% of MSW), could be used in a bio-reactor, together with other raw materials, for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) process, producing biogas and “digestate”. Moreover, 3.03 million tons ca. of manure, collected in medium and large animal husbandry farms (where cows, pigs and poultry are bred), and 350 thousand tons ca. of by-products, collected in food processing industries (pomace from olive oil mills and grape marc from wineries), might be used for AD process. The Sicilian potential biogas production from the AD of the above raw materials is 170.2 millions of m3, that is equal to 1023.4 GWh of energy per year, of which 484 GWh from animal manure, 303 GWh from OFMSW and 236.4 GWh from food industry by-products. The highest biogas production is in the province of Palermo (35.6 millions of m3), Ragusa (30.8 millions of m3) and Catania (22.8 millions of m3), having a potential energy production of 213.8, 185 and 137 GWh, respectively.