Agricultural biomass as an energy resource has several environmental and economical advantages and has potential to substantially contribute to present days’ fuel demands. Currently, thermochemical processes for agricultural biomass to energy transformation seem promising and feasible. The relative advantage of thermochemical conversion over others is due to higher productivity and compatibility with existing infrastructure facilities. However, the majority of these processes are still under development phase and trying to secure a market share due to various challenges, right from suitable infrastructure, raw material, technical limitations, government policies, and social acceptance. The knowledge at hand suggests that biomass can become a sustainable and major contributor to the current energy demands, if research and development are encouraged in the field of thermochemical conversion for various agricultural biomass types. This paper intends to explore the physical and chemical characteristics of biofuel substitutes of fossil fuels, potential biomass sources, and process parameters for thermochemical conversion.

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Canada's agricultural emissions accounted for 60 Mt or 8% of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2007. The estimation of CH4 emission factor (B0) from manure management systems in Canada is prone to uncertainty owing to lack of B0 values for Canadian conditions. Therefore, in this study, manure samples from six Canadian animal farms, two each of swine, beef and dairy cattle, were investigated in order to estimate their methane production potential (B0). The ultimate anaerobic biodegradability was measured with ISO standard batch fermentation. The extent of biodegradation of the manure samples with or without sodium benzoate was always greater than 60% and hence showed no inhibitory effect on methane production by the manure. The impact of use of antibiotics in the animal feed on methane production was also considered; however, no inhibitory effect on methane production could be observed. The plateau of methane production in all cases was achieved by 63 d of anaerobic digestion process and the final pH was within 6-8. The calculated B0 were in the range of 0.47-0.42, 0.21-0.19 and 0.35-0.30 for swine, beef cattle and dairy cattle, respectively. The uncertainties associated with B0 values were +/- 9% for swine, +/- 3% for beef cattle and, +/- 6 and +/- 2% for dairy cows.

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