Socio-economic and environmental benefits of biofuel production development from agricultural waste in Ukraine

Abstract Energy needs are determined by three main factors: population growth, the economic development of society, and the scientific and technical level of production processes. These needs are increasing year by year in the world and in 2018 they exceeded 13.5 billion tons of oil equivalent. More and more countries are developing and implementing plans and strategies for significant coverage, within 50-100%, of their energy needs through renewable energy sources. The findings of this study revealed that Ukraine’s energy demand per year is 200 million tons of oil equivalent of energy resources. Currently, the share of renewable energy in the structure of energy consumption in Ukraine is 4.4%. The authors also acknowledged that at the same time, 115 million tons of agricultural plant waste and about 97 million tons of animal waste are generated annually in Ukraine, which makes it possible to produce 7.21 million tons of oil equivalent and 2.2 million tons of oil equivalent, respectively from these. The study found that the production of biofuels from agricultural waste will have social, economic and environmental effects. An efficiency matrix was constructed by the authors to determine these effects. Using the SWOT method of analysis, factors that will affect the development of biofuel production from agricultural waste were determined.