A system for the utilization of agricultural wastes in an agro-industrial settlement-kibbutz as a model

The kibbutz, with its unique characteristics of a communal agricultural-industrial settlement, can provide an in situ model to examine problems involved in agricultural wastes management. A scheme is presented where the kibbutz, a producer of large quantities of agricultural, domestic and agro-industrial wastes, can utilize these wastes to reduce environmental problems, generate energy (as biogas) and use the residue as feedstuff or as raw materials for industry. The paper describes and evaluates the quantities and sources of agricultural wastes and their content of organic material in Israel. Conversion of these quantities of agricultural wastes into fuel can arithmetically produce 2.12 × 1016joules (J) annually, presenting about 10% of Israel's present annual energy requirement. The average energy available for an individual kibbutz, based on these data, is 3.8 × 1013 J per year. A survey of the annual consumption of energy (fuel oil and electricity) in ten kibbutzim have shown that a kibbutz with a population of 1000 people consumes about 3.18 × 1013 J per year.