Agro-waste to sustainable energy: A green strategy of converting agricultural waste to nano-enabled energy applications

The rising demands of the growing population have raised two significant global challenges viz. energy crisis and solid -waste management, ultimately leading to environmental deterioration. Agricultural waste (agro-waste) contributes to a large amount of globally produced solid waste, contaminating the environment, and raising human-health issues on improper management. It is essential for a circular economy to meet sustainable development goals and to design strat-egies to convert agro-waste into energy using nanotechnology-based processing strategies, by addressing the two sig-nificant challenges. This review illustrates the nano-strategic aspects of state-of-the-art agro-waste applications for energy harvesting and storage. It details the fundamentals related to converting agro-waste into energy resources in the form of green nanomaterials, biofuels, biogas, thermal energy, solar energy, triboelectricity, green hydrogen, and energy storage modules in supercapacitors and batteries. Besides, it highlights the challenges associated with agro-waste-to-green energy modules with their possible alternate solutions and advanced prospects. This comprehensive review will serve as a fundamental structure to guide future research on smart agro-waste management and nanotech-nological innovations dedicated to its utilization for green energy applications without harming the environment. The nanomaterials assisted generation and storage of energy from agro-waste is touted to be the near-future of smart solid -waste management strategy for green and circular economy.

Automated summary

The increasing demands of the growing population have led to two significant global challenges, namely energy crisis and solid waste management, resulting in environmental degradation. In order to address these challenges, it is crucial to convert agricultural waste into energy using nanotechnology-based processing strategies. This review highlights the nanoscale aspects of utilizing agro-waste for energy harvesting and storage, including the generation of green nanomaterials, biofuels, biogas, thermal energy, solar energy, triboelectricity, green hydrogen, and energy storage modules in supercapacitors and batteries. It also discusses the challenges associated with agro-waste-to-green energy conversion and presents possible solutions and future prospects. This comprehensive review serves as a fundamental framework for guiding future research on smart agro-waste management and nanotechnological innovations for green energy applications without harming the environment.