Converting Waste Agricultural Biomass into a Resource - UNEP

5. Conclusion
The Compendium does not claim to be a definitive collection of all existing
cellulosic biomass technologies in the world. Although the scope of the
Compendium is global, most of the technologies included therein are
developed and being used in the USA, Canada, Europe, India and Southeast
Asia. It is notable that there is no technology in the Compendium from the
Middle East and only a handful come from Africa.
In Africa and other developing regions, dependence on biomass for
household needs, such as cooking and drying food or community-level
enterprise use, are known to exist but not extensively documented. The
Compendium is only limited to data available on the net or in English
publications. Another factor is that information on many research and pilotlevel
demonstration technologies are not yet available on the Internet or in
other publications. The challenge now is how to ensure that the Compendium
best captures technology available worldwide, especially those existing in
developing countries, so that those who need it more can have the ease of
access to information on these technologies.
The usability of the Compendium of Biomass Waste Conversion Technologies
was tested with the selection of appropriate technologies for a proposed pilot
project to be implemented in a selected region the Philippines. Based on the
process undergone by the selection of technologies, the Sustainability
Assessment of Technologies (SAT), a tool developed by UNEP, the
Compendium proves valuable in screening, scoping and selecting
technologies appropriate for project implementation 11 . Through the technology
data sheets, the Compendium provided useful data needed to be able to
select the appropriate technology for the pilot site.
However, given that some technologies have incomplete data fields, there is a
need to intensify and deepen research on the growing number of
technologies. Periodic updating and upgrading the Compendium is therefore
imperative if it is to be continuously relevant in the future.
11
See Report on Sustainable Assessment of Technologies for UNEP-DAP Biomass Waste Conversion
Pilot Project in Nueva Ecija, Philippines.
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