The Current Status and Lost Biogas Production Potential of Kazakhstan from Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock and Poultry Manure

Abstract

Kazakhstan has large reserves of natural resources, including coal, oil, and natural gas. We hope to replace fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy—particularly renewable natural gas. Thus, Kazakhstan, like other countries, should cut its dependency on coal, oil, and natural gas so as to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This study, given that Kazakhstan is an agricultural country with a large amount of organic matter, analyzes the potential of biogas production as a source of electricity and heat. Manure from livestock and poultry was chosen as a source of organic matter. The climate of Kazakhstan in most of its territory is sharply continental, with large temperature differences, which affect the process of anaerobic digestion. Consequently, the features of biogas production in cold regions were analyzed, and the calculation shows that the equivalent of 27,723,802 kWh of calorific energy could be obtained from the anaerobic digestion of livestock and poultry manure, while the annual energy consumption of Kazakhstan was 9423 billion kWh. Moreover, a policy is suggested to develop biogas production in Kazakhstan based on the agricultural land distribution among farmers.

Modelling of an Anaerobic Digester: Identification of the Main Parameters Influencing the Production of Methane Using the Sobol Method

“…This leads to the development of the system of differential equations based on ADM1, as used previously by several authors in the literature [20]. The variation in the concentration over time for each molecule reacting and/or produced in the system is expressed in Equation (3). For this work, the liquid phase contained twenty components, giving twenty differential equations, as follows:…”

“…Today, communities worldwide are working on the transition to different forms of energy. Changing fossil fuel sources for new technologies can lead to a decrease in CO 2 emissions and can ensure the supply of energy required to meet incessant and growing demands, especially in areas where organic matter is available and abundant [1][2][3], and this is the goal for numerous research teams. However, despite the efforts made by these different communities, multiple challenges are still faced in developing secure and sustainable energy sources, mainly due to intermittency, grid restrictions, curtailment, and high costs [4].…”