Analysis of energy and greenhouse gas emissions of rice straw to energy chain in Egypt

Abstract

Rice straw as a source of energy could substitute for fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, the aim of this paper was to analyze the energy and GHG emissions of rice straw to the energy chain in Egypt. The analysis was performed starting from paddy production, straw collection and transportation, and energy generation for two scenarios: power plant and anaerobic digestion plant. The results showed that the paddy production and transportation stage represented the highest contribution of the total energy consumption and GHG emissions for the two scenarios, respectively. The energy potential was estimated with 4193 GWh electricity and 25,647 × 106 MJ of biogas energy. It was also found that use of rice straw as an energy source could reduce the use of fossil fuel and mitigate air pollution from direct burning of rice straw by 3 Mt CO2-eq of GHG emissions.