• Energy Research
• 6. Clean water close
• 2. Zero hunger close
• UA close
• BE close
• Energies close

This paper assesses the extent, scope and importance of financial support for Polish organic farming from 2004 to 2019. The analysis focuses particularly on how the changes in the amount and structure of organic farming payments affected farmers’ interest in specific organic crops during three financing periods: the 2004–2006 Rural Development Plan, the 2007–2013 Rural Development Programme (RDP) and the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme. This paper aims to answer the question of whether and to what extent the organic farming support policy impacted the development trends followed by, and transformation processes affecting, this sector. It follows from this analysis that in the first decade after joining the European Union, Poland implemented a policy of making payments easily available. It was primarily focused on the quantitative growth of organic farming rather than on stimulating supply. As the payments were easily accessible and decoupled from production, subsidy-oriented farmers were additionally encouraged to seek political rent. This resulted in the instability of a large group of farms who discontinued their organic farming activity in 2014. That year, the policy was amended because of the need to improve the allocation efficiency of subsidies and to couple them with the provision not only of environmental public goods but also of private goods in the form of organic farming products. The current support policy opens up greater opportunities for leveraging the potential of organic farming while reaping environmental and socioeconomic benefits and contributing more than ever to sustainable development.

This paper assesses the extent, scope and importance of financial support for Polish organic farming from 2004 to 2019. The analysis focuses particularly on how the changes in the amount and structure of organic farming payments affected farmers’ interest in specific organic crops during three financing periods: the 2004–2006 Rural Development Plan, the 2007–2013 Rural Development Programme (RDP) and the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme. This paper aims to answer the question of whether and to what extent the organic farming support policy impacted the development trends followed by, and transformation processes affecting, this sector. It follows from this analysis that in the first decade after joining the European Union, Poland implemented a policy of making payments easily available. It was primarily focused on the quantitative growth of organic farming rather than on stimulating supply. As the payments were easily accessible and decoupled from production, subsidy-oriented farmers were additionally encouraged to seek political rent. This resulted in the instability of a large group of farms who discontinued their organic farming activity in 2014. That year, the policy was amended because of the need to improve the allocation efficiency of subsidies and to couple them with the provision not only of environmental public goods but also of private goods in the form of organic farming products. The current support policy opens up greater opportunities for leveraging the potential of organic farming while reaping environmental and socioeconomic benefits and contributing more than ever to sustainable development.

In 2013, UAE imported around 772 million kilograms of rice, making it one of the largest consumers of this popular grain in the world. However, 40% of rice available in the market is discarded, contributing to the country’s CO2 footprint. Given that CO2 emissions are recognized as a significant contributor to climate change and efforts aimed at their reduction are proving insufficient for combatting the global increase in temperature, various approaches aimed at its removal from the atmosphere have been proposed. The goal of this study is to contribute to this initiative by proposing a new method for CO2 removal based on a special gas contact device filled with buffered puffed rice cakes obtained by heating in a purposely designed sealed chamber at high pressure to obtain layers with 9−12 mm thickness. The resulting cakes are subsequently immersed in a sodium hydroxide liquor (0.25−2.5 M) to increase the moisture content to 5% and pH to >11.0. In the experiments, different rice structures (stacked layers, rice grains, and multi-spaced layers) were tested, varying the CO2 percentage in the simulated effluent gas (1−15%). The highest CO2 uptake value (7.52 × 10−3 mole CO2/cm2 rice cake surface area) was achieved using 10% CO2 and a 500 mL/min flow rate with rice cakes of 80 mm diameter, comprising 12 mm thick layers that occupied 20% of the device volume. These results indicate that the proposed design exhibits high CO2 removal efficiency and should be further optimized in future investigations.

In 2013, UAE imported around 772 million kilograms of rice, making it one of the largest consumers of this popular grain in the world. However, 40% of rice available in the market is discarded, contributing to the country’s CO2 footprint. Given that CO2 emissions are recognized as a significant contributor to climate change and efforts aimed at their reduction are proving insufficient for combatting the global increase in temperature, various approaches aimed at its removal from the atmosphere have been proposed. The goal of this study is to contribute to this initiative by proposing a new method for CO2 removal based on a special gas contact device filled with buffered puffed rice cakes obtained by heating in a purposely designed sealed chamber at high pressure to obtain layers with 9−12 mm thickness. The resulting cakes are subsequently immersed in a sodium hydroxide liquor (0.25−2.5 M) to increase the moisture content to 5% and pH to >11.0. In the experiments, different rice structures (stacked layers, rice grains, and multi-spaced layers) were tested, varying the CO2 percentage in the simulated effluent gas (1−15%). The highest CO2 uptake value (7.52 × 10−3 mole CO2/cm2 rice cake surface area) was achieved using 10% CO2 and a 500 mL/min flow rate with rice cakes of 80 mm diameter, comprising 12 mm thick layers that occupied 20% of the device volume. These results indicate that the proposed design exhibits high CO2 removal efficiency and should be further optimized in future investigations.

The article deals with the study on the efficiency of units for porous ammonium nitrate production. The ways which increase the effective implementation of energy resources are determined by including the ejector recycling module, heat and mass exchangers that utilize principles of regenerative indirect evaporative cooling, and the sub-atmospheric inverse Brayton cycle. Mixed exergy analysis evaluates all flows of the system contour as those of the same value. The target parameter for determining the efficiency of both systems is the ratio of the unit’s productivity to the exergy expenditures to produce the unit mass of the product. As a result, it is found that the mentioned devices and units enable to increase the efficiency of the basic scheme by 87%.

The article deals with the study on the efficiency of units for porous ammonium nitrate production. The ways which increase the effective implementation of energy resources are determined by including the ejector recycling module, heat and mass exchangers that utilize principles of regenerative indirect evaporative cooling, and the sub-atmospheric inverse Brayton cycle. Mixed exergy analysis evaluates all flows of the system contour as those of the same value. The target parameter for determining the efficiency of both systems is the ratio of the unit’s productivity to the exergy expenditures to produce the unit mass of the product. As a result, it is found that the mentioned devices and units enable to increase the efficiency of the basic scheme by 87%.

The use of fossil fuels (methane, oil, etc.) is undergoing an unprecedented crisis now. There is the urgent need to search for alternative energy sources. A wide range of degraded organic materials can be effectively used to provide energy together with environmental protection. Soapstock is a hazardous waste containing a high concentration of toxic organic compounds of man-made origin (fatty acids, surfactants, dyes, etc.). To prevent environmental contamination such substances require an effective treatment approach. The goal of the study was to isolate the adapted-to-fatty-acids methanogenic microbiome and investigate the patterns of sodium acetate and soapstock degradation with simultaneous biomethane synthesis. The effectiveness of the degradation of sodium acetate and soapstock by non-adapted and adapted microbiomes was evaluated by decreasing the concentration of dissolved organic compounds. The effectiveness of the fermentation process was determined by the biogas (mixture of CH4 and CO2) yield. The most effective degradation occurred in the variant with sodium acetate and adapted methanogens and amounted to 77.9%. In other variants, the patterns and the efficiency of purification were similar ranging from 60.6 to 68.0%. The biomethane was mostly synthesized by adapted methanogens on the soapstock and sodium acetate as substrates. Thus, the CH4 yield was 368.4 L/kg of dissolved organic compounds or 127.5 L/kg of soapstock. The results of this study demonstrated the potential of methanogenic microorganisms in the biodegradation of soapstock with simultaneous biogas synthesis. The results can serve as a basis to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels by generating biomethane via the fermentation of toxic organics.

The use of fossil fuels (methane, oil, etc.) is undergoing an unprecedented crisis now. There is the urgent need to search for alternative energy sources. A wide range of degraded organic materials can be effectively used to provide energy together with environmental protection. Soapstock is a hazardous waste containing a high concentration of toxic organic compounds of man-made origin (fatty acids, surfactants, dyes, etc.). To prevent environmental contamination such substances require an effective treatment approach. The goal of the study was to isolate the adapted-to-fatty-acids methanogenic microbiome and investigate the patterns of sodium acetate and soapstock degradation with simultaneous biomethane synthesis. The effectiveness of the degradation of sodium acetate and soapstock by non-adapted and adapted microbiomes was evaluated by decreasing the concentration of dissolved organic compounds. The effectiveness of the fermentation process was determined by the biogas (mixture of CH4 and CO2) yield. The most effective degradation occurred in the variant with sodium acetate and adapted methanogens and amounted to 77.9%. In other variants, the patterns and the efficiency of purification were similar ranging from 60.6 to 68.0%. The biomethane was mostly synthesized by adapted methanogens on the soapstock and sodium acetate as substrates. Thus, the CH4 yield was 368.4 L/kg of dissolved organic compounds or 127.5 L/kg of soapstock. The results of this study demonstrated the potential of methanogenic microorganisms in the biodegradation of soapstock with simultaneous biogas synthesis. The results can serve as a basis to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels by generating biomethane via the fermentation of toxic organics.

Manufacturing and the further utilization of biogas is an efficient way of complementing or replacing primary energy resources. Ukraine has followed the global tendency to substitute fossil energy sources with renewable ones, which particularly includes biogas. Considering the experience of European countries, as well as the potential and needs of Ukraine, the necessity of biogas plant building implies three main factors: obtaining the energy sources, selling agricultural products and by-products of biogas production, and managing the environmental issues surrounding biogas generation. The growth dynamics of biogas plants and their productivity were analyzed for the period of 2012–2019. In doing so, the capacity and potential capabilities of biogas production in Ukraine by means of biological waste and agricultural raw materials were assessed. The article focuses on the importance of resolving the issues of sanitary and technogenic protection in biogas plant building and biogas manufacturing. It also points out the reasons that prevent Ukraine from going forward with biogas projects, as well as the main factors that affect biogas plant viability and efficiency. Based on the statistical data of previous years and regression analysis, the authors calculated the production output and biogas transformation. Herein, the trend model and Excel software were applied.