Kataria, PoonamRajinder Kaur2021-01-122021-01-122020Rajinder Kaur (2020). Energy Potential of Agricultural Biomass in Punjab (Unpublished M.Sc. thesis). Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810159883The secondary data based study entitled “Energy Potential of Agricultural Biomass in Punjab” was envisioned to assess the availability of agricultural biomass in Punjab and to estimate the energy potential thereof. The district-wise analysis for all the major and minor crops has been carried out for the triennium ending (TE) 2017-18, except for cotton, wherein the average corresponds to two years i.e. 2016-17 and 2017-18 to omit the influence of the abnormal year 2015-16 with a substantial crop loss due to whitefly attack. The data on the requisite variables have been culled from various web and published sources and verified from certain research papers, wherever deemed necessary. The annual agricultural biomass potential from all the major and minor crops in the state has been estimated at 56.4 million t in TE 2017-18, the on-farm, and the processing level biomass being in the ratio of 83.6:16.4. It comprised 54.8 per cent of wheat, 38.0 per cent of paddy, 4.5 per cent of cotton, and 1.8 per cent of maize residue. The quantity of surplus biomass available for power generation has been estimated at 27.4 million t, out of which 22.9 million t (83.5%) is the quantity rendered surplus out of the field-based residue generated. The crop-wise analysis of biomass surplus highlighted the prominence of paddy with a contribution in total available biomass recorded at 63.1 per cent followed by wheat (28.2%), cotton (5.1%), and maize (2.8%), together accounting for 99.2 per cent of the biomass availability. The study of district wise spread of annual availability of biomass recorded at 27.4 million t at the state level highlighted that district Sangrur was at the top with a share of 9.6 per cent followed by Ludhiana (8.3%), Bathinda (7.4%), Patiala (6.8%) and Sri Muktsar Sahib (5.8%) collectively accounting for 37.9 per cent. A total of five districts namely, Fatehgarh Sahib, S.B.S. Nagar, Rupnagar, S.A.S. Nagar and Pathankot at the bottom ebb of the contribution scale together contributed 8.7 per cent. It was estimated that 22.9 million t of on-farm biomass available in Punjab had the energy potential of 358 PJ, out of which as high as 92 per cent is accounted for by paddy and wheat alone. Of all the districts, Sangrur had the maximum energy potential (34.8PJ) accounting for 9.7 per cent of the state total, followed by Ludhiana (8.5%), Patiala (6.9%), Bathinda (6.6%) and Moga (5.8%) together contributing 38 per cent to the energy potential of the state. The district-wise energy potential per unit of cropped area ranged from 36.9 GJ/ha in the case of district Pathankot to as high as 60.1 GJ/ha in Sangrur, with the state average recorded at 50.5 GJ/ha. The present study conclusively establishes the immense potential of Punjab agriculture in terms of conversion of agricultural biomass to energy. However, the effective use of this potential calls for a reorientation of the policy priorities to make use of this potential judiciously.EnglishThesis