abbas asakereh

Anaerobic digestion, in addition to producing biogas, can minimize the environmental problems of animal manure and produce high-quality fertilizer. Finding suitable places for the construction of anaerobic digestion reactors is essential for the sustainable development of these types of power plants. Locating the biogas production site is a complex process with different and sometimes contradictory criteria including environmental, economic and technical criteria from which the location-related factors play the main role. The integration of geographic information systems (GIS) with multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) provides a powerful tool that can be useful in locating biogas power plants.

In this study, spatial and non-spatial data were integrated with geographic information system in order to determine the optimal places for installing anaerobic digesters of livestock and poultry waste in the southeast of Khuzestan province. Data related to the type and number of livestock and poultry were collected separately from the Ministry of Agriculture. The location of livestock farms and chicken farms was determined using the GPS system. Livestock and poultry raised in the traditional way in the villages were not taking into account due to the problems of collecting manure and lack of economic justification. In order to determine the evaluation criteria and score them, similar studies, rules and guidelines, as well as the Delphi technique were used. 14 sub-criteria were evaluated in three main environmental, social-safety and topographical groups. Land suitability layers for the construction of anaerobic digestion reactors were prepared from the perspective of all sub-criteria in the GIS environment. In order to simplify calculations and easier weighting of criteria and sub-criteria to obtain the final result, some layers of criteria were combined. In this way, 14 layers were combined and overlapped until 7 layers of final criteria were formed. Since the spatial potential layer of biogas production is the main criterion and has the main effect on the suitability of land for the construction of a power plant, and on the other hand, it has no essential relationship with other criteria, it was valued separately. Roads and residential areas were also valued separately due to the greater importance of lower transport costs, accessibility, reducing transport time and losses, as well as environmental, health and safety impacts. The overall layer of surface water was obtained by multiplying the four layers of land suitability considering the sea, river, wetland and flood prone areas. Sensitive areas including forest, agriculture and protected areas were also considered in an exclusive layer. The other two layers were the combination layer of slope, height and fault, and the combination of railway lines and high voltage power lines. These layers were weighted using pairwise comparisons and hierarchical analysis method. The final layer of land suitability for the construction of anaerobic digesters and power plant was created by overlapping all the criteria layers based on the obtained weight.

The findings showed that anaerobic digestion of livestock and poultry wastes in the region has a potential to produce 7.25 million m3/year of biogas. Cow and chicken excrement have the largest share with 51.32 and 29.34 percent, respectively. The restriction layer showed that 73.28% of the area is unusable due to one or more restrictions. The results also showed that "regional biogas production potential" and "access to roads and energy consumption centers" are respectively the most effective factors in determining the appropriate location for the power plant. Finally, using spatial analysis in ArcGIS environment, the studied area was classified into five suitability levels: "unsuitable", "weak", "moderate", "suitable" and "very suitable". Based on this, 73.28% of the studied area was completely unsuitable and only 1.68% of the studied area was very suitable for the construction of a power plant.  But in almost all the studied areas, there was enough land with suitable or very suitable conditions to build a biogas plant.

In the studied area, lands with suitable conditions for the construction of a power plant from animal waste using anaerobic digestion technology were identified. There is a suitable distribution of "suitable" or "very suitable" levels in the study area for the construction of a biogas power plant. The findings of this study can be a guide for those in charge to make a decision for the construction of a power plant.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the sugarcane production based on exergy and energy cumulative consumption indicators and environmental evaluation of using life cycle assessment.

Data of sugarcane production were collected from the Mirza Kochak Khan agro-industry in Khuzestan province. All energy inputs used in the production of sugarcane in Plant and Raton farms were calculated.

Subsoiling, harvesting, laser leveling and deep plowing with moldboard plow had the highest cumulative exergy consumption. Total cumulative energy and exergy consumption were obtained as 86.44 and 49.86 GJ per hectare, respectively. Cumulative degree of perfection and renewable index of sugar cane production process were obtained 6.16 and 0.84 respectively. The findings showed that in terms of energy, sugarcane production is a system with negative cumulative energy and in terms of cumulative exergy, it is a positive system. Electricity is the most consumed energy and diesel fuel is the most consumed exergy in sugarcane production. The life cycle assessment shows that the greatest environmental impact of sugarcane production is related to FWA and MAE groups, respectively, with emissionon the farm having the greatest environmental impact with 62.30%.

Sugarcane production is a relatively renewable process that improving the management of chemical fertilizers and irrigation water and replacing non-renewable energy sources with renewable sources for electricity production increases the exergy efficiency and renewability of the sugarcane production process and reduces the effects of environmental groups.

Sesame harvesting is mainly done manually due to the use of dehiscence cultivars and high seed loss in mechanized harvesting. In recent years, with the introduction of non-dehiscence cultivars, the mechanized harvesting of sesame has become possible. In this study, the traditional and mechanized methods of sesame harvesting were investigated in terms of seed loss, cost, energy consumption and time required for harvesting. Data of traditional system were collected from farmers in Dezful, Shush and Andimeshk counties and data of mechanized system were obtained from Shahid Rajaei Agricultural production Company in Dezful. In the mechanized harvesting, the seed loss were measured in three amounts of seed planting rates (5, 10, and 12 kg/ha) and three ground speeds of the combine harvester (1.5, 2 and 2.5 km/h). The average seed loss in the combine was 4.83%, of which more than 94% was related to the combine header. The findings showed that with the increase in plant density, seed loss in combine is greatly reduced. The average labor in traditional harvesting was 315 labor-hours, which was 98 times more than in the mechanized method. The average cost of harvesting in traditional and mechanized methods was calculated as 49.4 and 2.7 million rials/hectare in 2019, respectively. The input energy in traditional and mechanized harvesting was 2088 and 1510 MJ/ha, respectively, that in the traditional method, human energy was the major part of the input energy. The results showed that the use of non-dehiscence cultivars and mechanized harvesting allows the development of sesame cultivation.

Selection of appropriate tractor as the source of power in farms is one of the most important decisions in farm management and a main task for farm managers and farmers. The main goal of this study was to select the best tractor in Saral region of Dyvandara County. Different criteria were used for selecting of an appropriate tractor such as power, safety, reparability, maneuverability, price, accessing to repair service, movement speed, power proportion to farm size, fitting the price and costs of tractor with the size of farms and the farmer's income. The statistical population for evaluating the tractors was 40 experienced operators and farmers  selected randomly. Data and value were analyzed and evaluated using the multi-criteria method. The results showed that safety and transport ability and price are the most important factors in the selecting a tractor in this region. According to the results, the medium range ITM 285 was the best tractor. Also, results showed that semi-heavy and heavy tractors were not suitable for this region with small size farms area. The results showed that non-agricultural use of tractors has a significant effect on the importance of a criteria for selecting suitable tractor in Saral region.

 Selection of appropriate tractor as the source of power in farms is one of the most important decisions in farm management and a main task for farm managers and farmers. The main goal of this study was to select the best tractor in Saral region of Dyvandara County. Different criteria were used for selecting of an appropriate tractor such as power, safety, reparability, maneuverability, price, accessing to repair service, movement speed, power proportion to farm size, fitting the price and costs of tractor with the size of farms and the farmer's income. The statistical population for evaluating the tractors was 40 experienced operators and farmers  selected randomly. Data and value were analyzed and evaluated using the multi-criteria method. The results showed that safety and transport ability and price are the most important factors in the selecting a tractor in this region. According to the results, the medium range ITM 285 was the best tractor. Also, results showed that semi-heavy and heavy tractors were not suitable for this region with small size farms area. The results showed that non-agricultural use of tractors has a significant effect on the importance of a criteria for selecting suitable tractor in Saral region.

In this study, batch series of laboratory-scale anaerobic digesters at 35 and 55 ° C were used to investigate the production of biogas from dairy effluents and reduce its pollution. Dairy effluent sludge with ratios of zero, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 100% was used for inoculation. The interaction effect of sludge percentage and temperature at the level of one percent on the volumetric indices of biogas production was significant for the amount of initial volatile solids, volatile solids removed and chemical oxygen demand removed at the level of one percent. With increasing sludge percentage, the amount of biogas produced per initial volume increased for the removed COD but decreased for the initial volatile solids. The highest biogas production efficiency was obtained based on the removed volatile solids at thermophilic temperature and 40% sludge ratio, with the removal of 47.7% volatile solids and 266.5 ml per gram of removed volatile solids. According to the results, the amount of biogas production at mesophilic temperature, in lower proportions of added sludge, is more than the amount of gas produced at thermophilic temperature, and due to the low volume of sludge production in the dairy industry and higher energy consumption under thermophilic conditions, anaerobic digestion and biogas production are more favorable at 35 ° C. The results also showed that by anaerobic digestion of each m3 of dairy effluent, 20.83 MJ of heat energy can be produced.

The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of planting methods on riased bed with microirrigation and seed density on grain yeild and energy indicators of bean production.

In order to compare the effect of planting methods and seed density on bean line of COS-16 (Straight Type), a split plot experiment in randomized complete block design was carried out in Khomein Bean Research Station during 2016 and 2017 with 3 replications. The main plots were flat planting, single row on a ridge, double rows on a ridge and three rows on a ridges. Sub plots were seed consumption of 70, 120 and 170 kg.ha-1. The space between ridges was 75 Cm. Irrigation type was microirrigation (tape irrigation).  

Experiment results showed that the treatments of two rows on a ridge with seed consumption of 120 kg.ha-1 and single row on a ridge with seed consumption of 70 kg.ha-1 with yields of 2300 and 2225 kg.ha-1, respectively are beter than other methods. The lowest energy intensity with 34 MJ.kg-1 and the high energy ratio with 0.99 were related to these treatments. Energy intensity and energy ratio of conventional method were 53.7 MJ.kg-1 and 0.63 respectively.  

The treatments of two rows on a ridge with seed consumption of 120 kg.ha-1 and single row on a ridge with seed consumption of 70 kg.ha-1 are recommended and the flat and three rows on a ridge planting methods does not recommended.

The objective of the current study was to investigate the energy consumption in Karun Sugar Factory and to assess, economically and technically, the potential of substituting natural gas by bagasse as a source of energy. The necessary data were collected throughout the factory documents and the factory expert’s interview during years 1395-1396. The results showed that the annual consumption of electricity and heat in the Karun sugar factory was 24 GWh and 890.83 tonnes steam respectively, which resulted in the emission of 195 tonnes of air pollutants with a social cost of 24.79 billion Rials. The net heat rate of the factory’s power plant calculated to be 27.15 MJ/KWh. Using 270,000 tonnes of surplus bagasse, there is the potential to generate 15.14% of total sugar plant energy and reduce 29,000 tonnes of pollutants per year. The rate of return and return time of the capital needed for modification the current boilers was 88.95% and 2 years respectively. Using bagasse instead of natural gas leads to 30.6 Billion Rials reduction in variable costs of the factory based on financial data of the year 1395.

Sugarcane, a perennial plant, has been cultivated in Khuzestan province, Iran, for a long time. Sugarcane seeds and stems (whole stalk or billet), both, are used for propagation, but stems planting is primary method of cultivation for sugar production purposes. Costs of sugarcane planting in Khuzestan differ when different planting methods are practiced. This study was conducted to find out proper planting methods  for Khuzestan’s conditions. To achieve the aims, various parameters were checked, then influencing variables were determined; experiments were carried out  in Hakim  agro-industrial farms, in 2016 . The following topics were considered: costs indices, billet burial quality, factors affecting field capacity, numbers of tractor coming and going on the farms, and finally ergonomic issues. Indicators were summarized as much as possible by merging into each other or turning. Factors weighting were done, using expert discretions and AHP to indicate the importance of each indicator. Integration of relative weights by multiplying the relative weight of each indicator on the above parameters was carried out and also consistency index was calculated by ratio of incompatibility and random index. In next step, by selecting factors and AHP, three planting methods were compered using Expert Choice software: conventional manual method, semi-mechanized planting method (by cutter planter), and mechanized planting method (by automatic billet planter). Results showed that semi-mechanized planting method was optimal method due to  minimum costs and maximum quality achieved in billet burial practice. Manual planting, in spite of achieving optimal way of planting compared with mechanized planting, received low advantages because of increasing in planting expenses.

Assessment of land suitability is one of the basic approaches to maximizing profits and protecting environmental resources. The purpose of this study was to determine the land suitability of Ahwaz county for cultivation of irrigated wheat using AHP Method and GIS. Ecological factors, agricultural factors and other parameters affecting wheat cultivation in Ahwaz county were determined. Soil permeability, soil texture, EC, pH, slope, accessibility to main roads and markets, and net income were selected. Data were collected by questionnaires distributed among farmers, experts, and government organizations. The results showed that economic criteria and soil characteristics had the highest weight, so that net income with the weight of 0.316 was ranked first. It has been found that average net income and benefit/cost ratio were 10.2 million rials per hectare and 0.44, respectively. The highest cost in wheat production was observed in machinery and equipment. Based on integration of GIS layers and assessment of land suitability, it was found that of total land area, 11.1% was very suitable, 32.5% was suitable, 30.4% was moderate, and 26% was unsuitable for wheat cultivation.

In assessment of agricultural sustainability, all environmental, economic, social and technical aspects must be taken into account. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the sustainability of wheat, corn and sugarcane production in Khuzestan agro-industries. Data were collected from Shahid Rajaie and Debel khazai agro-industries. Indicators such as energy, the risk of chemical fertilizers and biocide pollution, the risk of soil compaction due to machines, air pollution, and employment were used to compare and evaluate the sustainability of farms. For integrated and comprehensive assessment of indicators and farms ranking, the TOPSIS methods were used. Although these indicators and multi-criteria methods did not show a complete overview of sustainability farms, but they were effective in comparing the sustainability of farms and improving their sustainability. The results showed that employment, the risk of soil compaction and nitrogen fertilizer, air pollution and energy indicators had the most important role in the sustainability of farms, respectively. In the wheat farms, except for employment, other indices were better than other farms. The risk of soil compaction due to agricultural machinery in sugarcane farms had been high and had become one of the main problems of these farms .On the other hand, employment in the sugarcane production per hectare was much higher than the production of wheat and corn. The sensitivity analysis showed that the sustainability of farms was very sensitive to the employment, so with a reduction of 25.39% in weight of employment indicator, sugarcane farms were ranked the last.

Although the environmental impacts of renewable energies have been broadly investigated, their importance in ensuring energy security has received less attention. This study has investigated the potential of solar electricity generation Ahwaz county, from the energy security point of view. The land erea of Ahwaz county were prioritized based on the geographical, environmental and human factors using fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making and GIS. The results show that the solar energy in Ahwaz county has a great impact on enhancing energy security and has more flexibility regarding natural and human threats. Using only 3.3 percent of lands in the area, it is possible to generate as much electricity as needed in Khuzestan province. Thereby, it is possible to decentralize power generation, which in turn leads to increase the security of energy supply. This amount of solar electricity generation can contribute to reduce the emissions by about 109000 tons per year

The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of producing solar electricity with photovoltaic panels on rooftops of rural residential buildings in Khuzestan as an auxiliary system to provide electricity. The assessment of available rooftop area in rural residential buildings showed that 45 percent of all rooftops is available to install photovoltaic systems.Most of the available rooftops of rural residential buildings are located in Ahvaz, Dezful, Shosh and Shadegan with 22.56, 10.08, 8.58 and 7.73%, respectively. According to the map provided in GIS, the average solar radiation of all rural areas of Khuzestan province was calculated 5.219 kWh/m2/day annually. Among all counties, Ramhormoz and Hendijan with 5.37 and 5.36 kWh/m2/day respectively, had the greatest solar radiation. By assuming the availability of 25% of rooftop area and the efficiency of 6.48% for photovoltaic systems, it possible to generate 766.5 GWh/year of electricity that is equal to 7.29% of total household electricity consumption and 28.80% of household electricity consumption per capita in Khuzestan province. Results showed that the maximum solar radiation was concurrent with the maximum power consumption in Khuzestan province. High solar radiation along with its great potential to produce solar energy, can be useful to overcome the overloading of power grids and consequently power outages in the hot summer