Evaluation of Aegean region agro-industrial wastes as a potential energy source

Especially in the last decade, the interest in energy generation from biomass and waste materials has been increasing in Turkey. The reasons for this are mainly twofold: (1) The utilization of biomass energy creates new job possibilities on the agricultural market, and (2) biomass energy yields lower air emissions than fossil fuels. Parallel to the agro-industrial development in the country, different types of wastes have been dramatically increasing in the Aegean region. The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the potential and availability of the agro-industrial wastes produced in this region with respect to energy production. This evaluation was based on a previously conducted questionnaire-based survey aiming to determine the potential of these wastes in the 8 cities of this region and 2 neighboring cities. The cities all had similar economical and agricultural structure, with business concentrated in 9 different agro-industrial sectors. The evaluation indicates that this region has a significant potential of agro-industrial wastes for energy production, and the results obtained can assist national government for future planning studies. However a good waste management system should be installed throughout the country for the optimum use of these wastes.