Energy and environmental management protocols of an agrocombined system for biogas production from biomass waste

The Project of Cross-Border Cooperation Italy-Tunisia, entitled "Valorisation énergétique Des Résidus (VEDER)", aims at highlighting the energy and environmental benefits involved by the energy recovery from agricultural and livestock biomass. The goal of such a project is twofold: i) the construction of a pilot plant for the digestion and cogeneration of biomass collected in multi-farm activities in Tunisia; ii) the creation of a supply chain for energy recovery from biomass waste. Furthermore, a presented in the following paper, protocols of energy and environmental efficiency are defined in order to support the energy and environmental management of the system under study, according to the international standards UNI EN ISO14001 and UNI CEI EN ISO 50001, respectively. The energy and environmental management protocols refers to each step of the biomass supply from the collection to the biogas cogeneration, thereby focusing on the related environmental impacts, the waste generation and the energy consumption. In detail, the paper shows examples of management protocols aimed at: 1) the optimization of the supply of the biogas and cogeneration plant; 2) the improvement of waste management (to reduce health and environmental risks); 3) the reduction of energy and environmental impacts (e.g. related to the transport in the agro-combined system)