Types of agro residues

Due to growing worldwide concern about the environmental impacts of fossil fuels, particularly global warming and nuclear risks, there is currently a resurgence of interest in biomass energy, since potentially it can satisfy a much larger energy demand. According to a report, under the minimum case scenario, biomass is the most important of the renewable and is projected to account for 45% (243 mtoe) of the contribution by renewable to world energy by 2020 and to about 65% of energy use in developing countries. At present however, the residues are normally under utilized. CO2 emission could be avoided significantly by utilizing normally unused residues in place of fossil fuels, wherever possible.
Biomass residues and by products are available in abundance at the agro-processing centres (rice husk, bagasse, molasses, coconut shell, groundnut shell, maize cobs, potato waste, coffee waste, whey), farms (rice straw, cotton sticks, jute sticks), animals sheds (cow dung, poultry excreta, forests (bark, chips, shavings, sawdust), municipal waste (city refuse, sewage) and industrial waste (distillery effluents/ spent wash, textile waste, plastic waste). The increase in productivity as a result of green revolution has effected not only the production of main products but also the generation of residues. The residues generated by rice, sugarcane, coconut, groundnut, cotton, jute and maize is significantly substantial.