The potential of Turkey's province-based livestock sector to mitigate GHG emissions through biogas production

Methane and nitrous oxide are the two leading greenhouse gases (GHG) that are released to the atmosphere due to livestock enteric fermentation and manure management. This study examines Turkey's province-based GHG emissions released by its livestock sector due to these processes. Besides, this study focusses on biogas production through anaerobic digestion, which is one of the most effective GHG mitigation options from manure management. This study aims to show the importance of the livestock sector in regards to GHG emissions in Turkey based on estimations made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 Guidelines. As a result of these estimations, for the year 2015, 33.85 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-eq) were produced from enteric fermentation and manure management system. The study also aims to evaluate Turkey's province-based biogas production potential from animal manure through the anaerobic digestion (AD) technology. Two different biogas potential scenarios with varying manure recovery rates were developed. Scenario 1 was developed based on the assumption of that total amount of produced animal manure would be used in AD for biogas production, and scenario 2 was developed based on the realistic manure recovery rates that vary with the type of livestock. Biogas potentials for scenario 1 and scenario 2 were determined as 8.41 billion m³ and 4.18 billion m³ in 2015, respectively. These values can meet Turkey's total electricity demand at a rate of 5.25% for scenario 1, and the rate of 2.3% for scenario 2. In addition, according to Turkey's GHG Inventory, submitted annually to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), GHG emissions from manure management can be reduced by 1.13% through biogas production.