Abstract:
Biomass is considered as important source of renewable energy contributing about 30 percent of the primary energy needs of the developing countries. Pakistan is enriched with biomass resources that can be tapped for energy production i.e bio-diesel and bio-fuel. A Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology was adopted to assess the potential of biomass exploitation for energy production in district Sahiwal, Punjab. The objectives of the study were to (i) develop livestock geodatabase, (ii) identify/classify the fodder crop from satellite imagery and (iii) develop the biogas potential maps of the study area. The geodatabase includes livestock residues, livestock counts, population of the region and biogas resource assessment. Once the geodatabase was developed, ArcGIS was used to calculate livestock density, dung yield and ultimate biogas potential in the study area. Multispectral ASTER imagery with 15m spatial resolution was used to generate land cover map of the study area. Overlay analyses were performed in ArcGIS to exploit the biogas resources availability at village and union council levels. The GIS analysis revealed that in Sahiwal district, domestic energy requirement of more than 40% population can be met by biogas option. Moreover 39 villages of the district have biogas potential ≥100% requirement that can be exported to other villages with low biogas potential. The study depicts that 1496 km2 area is highly suitable, 1416 km2 suitable or moderately suitable and 289 km2 area is non-suitable for biogas plants.
