Management of on-farm agricultural wastes for energy and food recovery

The increasing demands placed on finite supplies of energy and food make it imperative to find alternative, unconventional resources, to replace oil and animal proteins. Agricultural wastes, given proper treatment, prove to be a potentially exploitable resource. Integrated treatment of the family and farmyard wastes on the farm has environmental as well as economic advantages. A management model of a combined on-farm treatment system (COFTS) is presented. The model provides guidelines for optimal layout and performance of the proposed on-farm integrated systems. It includes design parameters such as the geometry of the system, dimensions, designed flow rates, and control variables such as retention times, loading, and mixing rate. The model is based on the definition of a non-linear objective function, expressing the net profit of the proposed system. The optimal value was found subject to non-linear constraints indicating the availability of the various resources and physical limitations.