Potential of Energy Generation from Cereal-Based Agricultural Residues in Morocco

Morocco is the first North African country in cereals production, such as wheat, barley, rice, corn, millet, oat, rye, and sorghum. In spite of obtaining a vast amount of biomass from cereals in Morocco, a small portion of these excellent energy resources are used for power generation in the country. This is an important challenge for Morocco because of its high dependence on energy imports, limited water resources, and fast-growing population. In addition, the country is committed to reducing greenhouse gases emission according to the Paris climate change agreement. Regarding the importance of water availability for rainfed agricultural products such as cereals that are the main feedstock for Moroccan food and animal feed, the use of cereals straw for energy production will reduce the pressure on both national energy and agriculture sectors. On the other hand, using cereal biomasses decreases the environmental problems related to removing agricultural residues from the farms and their transportation costs. Moreover, using the energy of grain biomass motivates farmers to give up the open burning of agricultural straws and subsequent pollutants emissions. Consequently, this paper estimates energy obtained from the straw of eight important kinds of cereal in Morocco with the intention of providing beneficial results for the Moroccan energy sector.