POTENTIAL OF BIOGAS FROM ANIMAL WASTES OF TURKEY AND DETERMINATION OF SUITABLE REACTOR SIZE

There is an intensive agricultural production performed in Turkey, where 62.3% of total agricultural holdings engage in both crop production and animal husbandry, while 5% of total holdings are engaged with only animal production. According to the statistics of cattle, sheep and poultry enterprises in Turkey, approximately 161 million tons of waste is obtained from these sectors. The animal wastes cause huge problems for enterprises and cannot be reutilized properly. Thus, producing biogas by using these wastes is the best method to reutilize them. According to the research conducted in this area, the amount of biogas supplied from animal wastes is 7.62 Gm^3/year and its energy equivalent value was calculated as 66.3 PJ. In Turkey, 85% of animal wastes are obtained from cattle farming. Considering the size of the cattle enterprises in Turkey, 59.78% of the owners have 1-4 cattle, 21.3% of them have 5-9 cattle, 12.8% have from 10 to 19 cattle, 5.4% have about 20-49 cattle, 0.7% have about 50-149 cattle and 0.1% of farm owners have 149 or more cattle in their farms. In this study, sizes of eligible biogas units for enterprises were calculated as well. The size of the proposed biogas reactor is 7 m^3 for the farms based on their current waste potential for 10 cattle, 14 m^3 for 20 cattle, 36 m^3 for 50 cattle, 108 m^3 for 150 cattle and 215 m^3 for 300 cattle, respectively.