Modelling scenarios of agricultural production development on the basis of sustainable development with the use of biogas technologies

Abstract

Today, the topic of low-carbon agricultural production that involves waste recycling and the production of green energy for organic farming systems is becoming increasingly relevant. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to evaluate scenarios for the development of an agricultural company that uses biogas technologies. (2) Methods: The results of long-term field research, statistical methods of data processing, and simulation modelling were used to implement scenarios for the development of the Kolos 2000 agricultural enterprise (Kharkiv region, Ukraine) using the Agroecosystem software package. (3) Results: The scenario of creating an infrastructure that ensures the production of 500 tons of hard cheese with 50% fat content, 400 tons of cream or sour cream with 15% fat content, 90 tons of veal and beef, biogas with heat energy and organic fertilisers (vermicompost) remaining after anaerobic digestion in a biogas plant is modelled. The potential for bioenergy generation in terms of methane gas is 1.5 million m3 or 740 m3 /ha. In terms of manure litter with a moisture content of 75%, the annual accumulation of organic fertilisers will be 27,000 or 13.2 tons per hectare. They will return 82% nitrogen, 94% phosphorus and 99% potassium from the crop to the soil. (4) Conclusions: The most optimal scenarios for the development of the agricultural sector with the use of biogas plants were identified. Further areas of cooperation between higher education and science organisations in Ukraine (Institute of Water Problems and Reclamation NAAS, State Biotechnological University, Sumy State University) and the Czech Republic (Biogas Research Team, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague) will focus on conducting bioindication studies on the use of digestate-based fertilisers for agricultural crops and the replacement of traditional energy sources with biogas.