Food production

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization is estimating an increase of food demand by 70% for the coming decades towards 2050, due to the ever-increasing human population. This surge in population will put a high demand on agriculture.

Therefore, biomass for fuel production, so called bioenergy crops, will compete heavily with food crops. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences states:

“Agricultural production should be used primarily for food while avoiding global deforestation and maintaining biodiversity. Even with such restraints a lot of bio-energy can be extracted from residues and organic waste.”

This necessitates a use of non-food biomass such as residues for bioenergy production from agriculture.

Globally, a large amount of agricultural by-products are produced annually. These by-products such as straw, shells and husks are the by-products of seed production, grain production and other activities within the agricultural sector. This is adding up to approximately 16 billion metric tonnes around the world. (European Biomass Industry Association) This biomass is mostly burned or dumped. By dumping into composts, the residues decay and emit methane gas. Burning the biomass will not emit methane, but burning has to be controlled. 

This is done by using Bioagropellets.