Energetic and exergetic aspects of cotton stalk production in establishing energy policies

Exergy analysis is important for energy resource utilization, because exergy, which is a way to a sustainable future, is a part of the energy analysis. Exergy analysis starts to play a role in several countries in developing energy policy. This paper deals with the exergetic assessment of the cotton stalk (CS) production. In this regard, Turkey, which is one of the eight countries producing 85% of the world's cotton, is given as an application country first. Energy and exergy relations used in the analysis are then presented. Finally, the Turkish CS production in 2003 is evaluated using energy and exergy analyses method, while the results obtained are discussed. The values for the net energy and exergy gained are obtained to be about 49,146 and 59,395 MJ/ha, respectively. Turkey's total energy and exergy are estimated to be 75.45 and 81.87 PJ. It may be concluded that this amount of energy is equal to 7.77% and 2.38% of Turkey's primary energy production and consumption in the same year, respectively. The overall mean energy and exergy efficiencies of the cotton production in the year studied are found to be 33.06% and 33.12%, respectively. It is also expected that the results of this study will be helpful in developing highly applicable and productive planning for energy policies.