Since 2011, the Syrian war has resulted in a massive energy supply shortage, making it difficult for people to access the energy they need for their daily lives. Renewable energy adoption can help to address this issue, and this is where biogas technology comes into play.

Více než tři stovky mladých vědců a zaměstnanců prestižních evropských univerzit přivítala v pátek 23. a v sobotu 24. září 2022 ve svém kampusu Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze. Konferenci každoročně pořádá Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS) a zve na ni studenty a akademiky partnerských univerzit. Hlavním tématem letošní studentské části byla „Propojenost věcí: Cesta k udržitelným řešením“.

Rozhovor z 29.3.2021 s jedním z historicky nejmladších docentů v ČR Hynkem Roubíkem z Fakulty tropického zemědělství ČZU v Praze na téma „Potravinová bezpečnost v zemích Globálního Jihu v reakci na válku na Ukrajině.“

„Můžeme určitě mluvit o hrozbě potravinové krize. Bude se to dít postupně, ale dopady jsou samozřejmě obrovské. Bude to i dalekosáhlá ekologická a socioekonomická krize pro velké množství lidí,“ řekl v Horizontu ČT24 Hynek Roubík z katedry udržitelných technologií Fakulty tropického zemědělství České zemědělské univerzity v Praze.

A joint meeting of the Biogas Research Team, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague and the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) was held in Vienna on 5th December 2022. The aim of the meeting was to establish research cooperation between both institutions and the Danube University Krems. The future work seeks to investigate pathways of substituting natural gas with biogas.

Vysoké emise skleníkových plynů jsou bohužel stále aktuálním a palčivým tématem, stejně jako energetické zdroje. K řešení situace by měly pozitivně přispívat bioplynové stanice.

The XXIInd SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference – “Green Sciences for Green Life”, was held in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, from 6 - 9 December 2022. The SGEM (Survey, Geology, Ecology and Management) conferences are focused on global warming, climate change, CO2 reduction, biodiversity, and green technologies for a sustainable future. The main goals of SGEM GeoConference are to raise awareness of both scientists and common people for the pressing ecological issues and to create a revolutionary forum for sharing and collaboration among the scientific society.  

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hynek Roubík is joining Nature Portfolio journal: Humanities & Social Sciences Communications as an Editorial Board member

In this paper, we revealed the fate of abandoned small-scale fixed-dome biogas plants in rural areas in central Vietnam.

Highlights:

Despite the large number of small-scale biogas plants being built in Vietnam, there is an increase in the reported cases of their dis-adoption by farmers with no official evidence.

With a typical lifespan of 20 years, small-scale biogas plants were found to be abandoned after 6 years (on average) in operation for anaerobic digestion.

Abandoned small-scale biogas plants were mainly not used for any other purposes within rural households. However, biogas plants initially connected to the household toilet were observed in use for human excreta storing after the dis-adoption.

Predominantly, failures in feedstock supply for biogas production led to the abandonment of biogas plants. Anaerobic digestion technology did not remain beneficial for farmers as practice for organic waste management when difficulties related to keeping pigs occurred. An important lesson of the biogas technology dis-adoption in Vietnam is the danger posed by African swine fever outbreaks in the area.

General trends in waste minimization stimulate the transition from linear to circular waste management systems. Therefore, developing environmentally sound biotechnologies for waste recycling and further utilization in the form of various biocomposite products and the production of biofuels is considered promising. 

Internship and data collection in Nigeria of Charles Ogbu. Between August and September 2022, Charles Ogbu, associated member of Biogas Research Team under co-supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hynek Roubík, visited Nigeria for data collection in relation to his PhD thesis: “Life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment-based resource recovery in Nigeria”. He was hosted by the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan.

On 13-14 September 2022, representatives of 17 European organisations from 17 countries gathered in Budapest at the kick-off meeting of the CEE2ACT project, funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme.

Fotovoltaika v tradičním pojetí se mění. Jejím novým vývojovým stupněm se stává agrivoltaika, která dává možnost smysluplně propojovat zemědělskou činnost s výrobou solární energie. V budoucnu tak budeme moci od zemědělců odebírat nejenom potraviny, ale i lokální zelenou elektřinu.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hynek Roubík, Group leader of BRT is coordinating second edition of Special Issue for Environments.

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone; therefore, we intend to identify global environmental challenges resulting from this crisis. The worldwide disruption caused by the pandemic has led to numerous impacts on the environment. These effects have both positive and negative consequences, which need to be systematically and empirically described.

Babatunde Tijani Liasu was master student at the Biogas Research Team under the supervision of Associate Professor Hynek Roubík with his research focused on:

“Small-Scale Biogas Technology in Nigeria - Perspective of rural areas”

Objective of this study was to present the state of the art and research challenges of small-scale biogas plants in Nigeria, assess the current perspective and provide the necessary recommendations for future development of this technology in rural areas.

Thanks goes also to prof. Temitayo Abayomi Ewemoje, Ph.D. from University of Ibadan (Nigeria), who was reviewer and opponent of this thesis.

Agrivoltaic (APV) technique in farming is an emerging multi-billion industry, which is catching the attention of various stakeholders in developed and developing economies of late. As already announced, this practical workshop organized in Prague has indeed generated a lot of information needed to understand the technique of APV and associated business models to maximize APV projects that are implemented in the context of developing countries. Thus, the expectations including the main aim of this organized workshop that was held on 16.09.2022 in Prague have been met.

Read about the workshop HERE.

Biogas Research Team had a strong presence again at the Tropentag conference! Our colleagues Lydia Mawar and Chama Theodore Ketuama participated in the Tropentag 2022 conference organized from September 14 to 16, 2022, at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences). Tropentag is an annual international conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture and rural development.

The 15-year cooperation between the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences CZU in Prague and the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Hue, Vietnam was newly expanded by taking on board the staff members of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences on a recent visit to Vietnam.

Dear Colleagues, humanity is entering a phase of transitioning to new socio-economic formations that are now taking place within Industries 4.0 and 5.0. Recent trends in human capital development, such as intellectualization, increased communication, internationalization, acquisition of skills, customization, and communication with consumers, align with Industries 4.0 and 5.0. The socio-economic transformations caused by disruptive technologies, such as blockchain, big data analytics, the Internet of Things, virtual reality, augmented reality, advanced virtual reality, artificial intelligence, algorithmic techniques, simulations and gamification, space colonization, renewable energy, high-speed travel, medical innovations, and 3D printing, could have positive and negative effects on sustainable development. Positive impacts include the dematerialization of industrial metabolism and less ecological impact on nature. The negative consequences of disruptive technologies are difficult to predict, but may include information vulnerability; increasing information dependence; the risk of creative potential reduction; the increasing cost of waste in the green economy; loss of jobs; a decrease in privacy; hacking, the loss of human control over cyber systems, etc. 

We are in conjunction with several universities and institutes in Ukraine and the U.S. organizing a VIRTUAL international conference entitled “Growing bioenergy crops by recycling biosolids on marginal lands” on September 22, 2022. This conference will be based on our U.S.-CRDF Global and Ukrainian Ministry of Education funded project on alternate energy.  

The conference is FREE to join but you and your colleagues will need to register electronically. Details are in the attached flyer. More details at  http://igim.org.ua/?p=8825

In September, PG2CRM kick off meeting took place in France. Partners from all the institutions involved in the project met in Saint-Etienne, France.

Bioenergy innovations in waste management: European experience in implementing a circular economy

Due to current water stress, there is a problem with hygiene and sanitation in many parts of the world. According to predictions from the United Nations, more than 2.7 billion people will be challenged by water scarcity by the middle of the century.

The Biogas Research Team, in collaboration with People in Need (PIN) and Keepers Zambia Foundation (KZF), conducted a feasibility study on a project to promote biogas technology in the Western Province of Zambia. This Province is still largely dependent on fuelwood and charcoal for household cooking energy supply, especially in poor households. The biogas project will help smallholder farmers have greater food and nutrition security and greater resilience to climate change. As part of the study, two main types of biogas plants, including the ZamDigester (fixed dome type) and ZambiDigester (smaller version based on prefabricated model) have been tested and promoted. In the initial phase, the project targets 130 farmers in Mongu and Kalabo Districts with the purpose of training them on the importance of using biogas to combat the impact of climate change, such as deforestation. In the subsequent phases, the construction of a series of communal biogas plants will start based on the feasibility study.

A news report by Spring24 TV Zambia on the tested biogas plants is available on https://fb.watch/eDWc0XA7Ty/

Hynek Roubík je jedním z nejmladších docentů v Česku, působí na Fakultě tropického zemědělství České zemědělské univerzity a povídal si s námi o tom, jaký je potenciál energetického využití odpadu nebo vzájemného soužití energetiky a zemědělství.

Within the 2-year Czech-Austrian project called: “Opportunities and Challenges for Anaerobic Systems in the Global South”, Dr Nils Haneklaus arrived at the first in-person 9-day visit.

In this paper, we are filling the gap by offering a systematic and thorough review. Indonesia must discontinue using fossil fuels and find alternatives to the energy it now uses. Despite its enormous potential, Indonesia only has 48,038 biogas plants, which is still considered a small number when compared to China and India.

„Šlo již o čtvrté neúspěšné období dešťů. Čeká se, že počet lidí, kteří budou čelit hladu, vzroste až na sedm milionů,“ řekl ČT24 Hynek Roubík z Fakulty tropického zemědělství České zemědělské univerzity.

In the week from 13th to 17th of June (2022) we hosted invited lectures from Dr. Jakub Mazurkiewicz and Dr. Damian Janczak from Poznań University of Life Sciences.

DEAR COLLEAGUES! We invite scientists, teachers, doctoral students, graduate students, applicants, students, government officials and local governments, and business representatives to participate at the International Scientific and Practical Online-Conference "Economics for ecology" which will be held on May - June 31–01, 2022 in Sumy, Ukraine

UNITED24 was launched by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the main venue for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine. Funds will be transferred to the official accounts of the National Bank of Ukraine and allocated by assigned ministries to cover the most pressing needs:

EU Co-funded ERA-MIN Joint Transnational Call 2021 funded project PG2CRM team has already published the article "Closing the Upcoming EU Gypsum Gap with Phosphogypsum".

Phosphogypsum Processing to Critical Raw Materials (PG2CRM) is one of the 22 projects funded under

On 31st of March (2022) the 1st Café Scientifique at FTA for PhD students was organized by Associate professor Hynek Roubík (Group leader of Biogas Research Team).

Blog post by: Sheriff Noi. This blog post emerged as one of the five winners of the YPARD/AGRINATURA/AgriSciences Platform E-Competition: SHARE YOUR STORY! for the MSc and BSc Category. The competition which was tagged your Research your Story! aimed to help students have a better sense of ownership of their research and to communicate the most important parts of their research in a creative easy to read storytelling way.

The Competition is held in three areas: agronomy, technology of production and processing of livestock products, agroengineering. The Competition is held in two stages: the first (in home HEIs) - October 2021 - March 2022; the second (on the basis of MNAU) - April 2022 - June 2022.

There are no other relevant studies on the topic of biogas from Syria available in the scientific literature. This is an unique research done in the country, where the Syrian civil war is an ongoing multi-sided civil conflict.

In this paper, an interdisciplinary approach to study the links between urbanization and the state of the green infrastructure of the metropolis was used, which indicates the possibility of providing ecosystem services.

This paper expands the knowledge on essential aspects of biogas implementation such as socio-economic impact, post-adaptation perception, and cultural habits related to traditional fuel use, focusing on differences in household economics and livelihood diversity at the peri-urban – rural continuum.

After a one-year break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the second Multidisciplinary Conference for Young Researchers was successfully organised on 29-30th of November 2021. This time in Sumy, Ukraine. And the theme of the conference was up-to-date: Sustainable Development Trends and Challenges under COVID-19.

Our PhD students Marek Jelínek, Jan Staš and Eduardo Duque Dussán, along with Assoc. Prof. Hynek Roubík, travelled to Ukraine as delegates of the FTA under the scientific cooperation project "Strengthening scientific capacities and cooperation of Ukrainian universities in AgriSciences" supported by the Czech Development Cooperation via Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

Ginny was elected because of her active involvement in research, education, and activities benefiting the foreign students contributing to the motivation of those interested in studying in Prague.

In October 2021 one of the members of Biogas Research Team – Ing. Ghaith Hasan visited Expo 2020 in Dubai. Here you can read his report.

Jackline Phiona Mukisa was master student at the Biogas Research Team under the supervision of Associate Professor Hynek Roubík and co-supervision of Dr. Jana Mazancová with her research focused on “Biogas in Uganda and the SDGs: A comparative cross-sectional fuel analysis of wood and biogas on case of Iganga district”.

This project was aiming to assess the possibilities of local winemakers in terms of valorisation of their processing waste. Based on the preliminary data collection and interviews with stakeholders the briquetting technology has been assessed as the most appropriate technology for small-scale and medium-scale producers together with use of small-scale biogas plant.

Not even the pandemic could stop members of the volleyball team of the Faculty of Tropical Agriculture of the CZU in Prague from participating in a beach volleyball tournament in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Globally, more people make their living from waste management than from any other sector, apart from farming. Nevertheless, somehow this massive sector is quite underrated and still not receiving enough attention. So, let´s change it!

In this paper, we focused on the influence of fallen leaves from the urban ecosystem as a cellulose-containing additive in the process of anaerobic digestion of poultry litter.

Haya was master student at the Biogas Research Team with her research focused on “Waste management pract\ices in Jordan (Al Ghoor region) and potential for implementation of biogas technology”.

Phd students from Biogas Research Team Ing. Marek Jelínek, MA Ricardo Situmeang and Dipl.Ing. Chama Theodore Ketuama, MSc. all passed successfully their State Exams.

In this paper, we focused on the quantification and evaluation of biogas production from either corn or sweet sorghum, as well as their combination

Postdoctoral fellowships are open to researchers moving within Europe, as well as those coming in from other parts of the world. You can also restart a research career after a break, such as parental leave.

Our colleagues Ricardo Situmeang, Chama Ketuama, Ghaith Hassan and Marek Jelínek participated in the Tropentag 2020 conference which was organised during September 9 – 11, 2020. The topic of the year 2020 was Food and nutrition security and its resilience to global crises.

Personalized Publication Mugs for fellow academics: when pandemic does not allow us for getting together, in our #BiogasResearchTeam under the leadership of Dr. Hynek Roubík we came up with a new way of celebrating accomplishments in publication of scientific papers.

In this paper we quantify the impact of partial replacement of traditional cooking fuels by biogas from two most prevalent sizes of biogas plants (BGPs) (6 m3 and 9 m3). 

This blog post by Charles Amarachi Ogbu emerged as one of the five winners that participated in the YPARD and AGRINATURA e-competition for the PhD. Category. Read it here.

Hynek was born on January 26th, 1991, in the Prague Czech Republic. His passion for agriculture started at a very early age. As a child he would help his family in their home garden where they would grow vegetables, potatoes and other crops, this experience leads him to pursue a career in agriculture.

Hynek has been in touch with agriculture since his childhood, where he used to help with the home agricultural production of his family. He was always interested in different agricultural aspects and fields. After graduating from high school, Dr. Roubík started his studies at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU). Firstly, he initiated his studies in the Faculty of Engineering, but his interests in sustainability and waste management led him to the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, where he finished his doctoral studies. Already during his bachelor research, he took a chance to participate as a team assistant of a developing project in Vietnam. And there he realized that this is the right direction to follow. Vietnam has not only become the country of his further research but has also become his home away from home.

...interview with Hynek Roubík, a young Czech expert in waste management

An alumna from Biogas Research Team presented her scientific findings at the traditional November ELLS conference!

Falling Walls Lab is an international forum for the next generation of early-career innovators, trailblazers, creators, and visionaries. 

Kseniia was master student at the Biogas Research Team with her research focused on “The fate of abandoned small-scale biogas plants – case of Vietnam”.

In this paper we investigate the emission reduction potential of a typical household biogas plant with a volume of 6 m3 and an assumed life cycle of 20 years.

Dr. Hynek Roubík (Group leader of our Biogas Research Team) has been appointed as member of the Journal Topic Board of Environments.

In this paper we identify the system of implementation of small-scale biogas technology from the farmer’s perspective, presenting all of the major stakeholders, factors and processes involved and to establish the principle relationships and feedbacks among them.

In December 2019 Dr. Hynek Roubík – Group leader of Biogas Research Team spent couple of weeks in Uppsala on Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Uppsala University as well as in RISE – Research Institutes of Sweden.

In this paper we investigate the potential development of small-scale biogas plants and their suitability in rural Sumatra

In this paper, we describe research into the biochemical processes of brown coal treatment. s. The modified biochemical model was formed from a complex biological treatment of low-rank coals with an added cycle of aerobic conversion and the process of converting a sulphur compound under anaerobic conditions, as well as a number of ecological-trophic groups of microorganisms.

Dr. Hynek Roubík (Group leader of our Biogas Research Team) has been appointed as member of the Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences

As follow-up of our project “Support of young university capacity in education and research and science activities in Ukraine” supported by Czech Republic Development Cooperation two scientists from Ukraine visited our Biogas Research Team.

With the collaboration between the Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS) members and other new contribution from New Zealand and Israel, the ELLS Scientific Student Conference was held in Uppsala in Sweden on 15^th and 16^th of November 2019.

Check the new research paper on the dynamic complexity of biogas technology. You can read it here.

In November 2019, our Biogas Research Team co-organized conference in Bila Tserkva (Ukraine).

On October 22th 2019, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague was hosting a meeting with Mr. René Castro Salazar, Assistant-Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and leader of the Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department.

Dr. Hynek Roubík (Group leader of Biogas Research Team) was among panelists in discussion with topic of: “Will we suffocate in waste or are there other solutions?”.

Since 1999, the Tropentag conference has held its annual meetings under the patronage and support of many European universities.

It means he was among the top 1% of reviewers in Essential Science Indicators (ESI) for Environment and Ecology research field. Rankings are calculated by number of verified pre-publication reviews performed and added to Publons between 1 September 2018 and 1 September 2019. Reviews were attributed to an ESI field based on the journal the review was performed for. There was added a 22nd field, "Cross-field" to celebrate reviewers whose contributions were for the amount of journals on Publons that could not be directly matched to an ESI field, where Dr. Hynek Roubík was also among the top 1% of reviewers.

On Monday (2.9.2019) a guest lecture focused on: "Challenges for sustainable smallholder beef production in a rapidly changing ASEAN environment – insights from recent case studies in Indonesia and Vietnam" was delivered by Jeff Corfield (consultant to recent Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR)).

In August, we organized in Ukraine under the leadership of Ing. Hynek Roubík, Ph.D. (from our Biogas Research Team) another field research of FTA students together with students and young researchers from three other Ukrainian universities - Sumy National Agrarian University, Sumy State University and Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University.

Read an interesing report from student (Gaurav Khanna) internship at our Biogas Research Team

Check the new research paper on Identification of Context-Specific Knowledge as a Tool for Biogas Facilitators and Their Quality Involvement. You can read it HERE.

Biogas Research Team is currently looking for PhD students! You can find the topics in attached file. 

Call for papers for Special Issue on: "Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Climate Change" with Dr. Hynek Roubík (Group leader of our Biogas Research Team) acting as Guest Editor in the International Journal of Global Energy Issues journal.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Biofuel and Bioenergy Technology that was published in Energies. 

Check the new research paper on biogas appliances with a focus on a flue gas analysis of biogas cook stoves. You can read it here.

Dear colleagues, let me happily invite you to the the International Scientific Conference entitled: 10th Forum of Ecological Engineering 

which will take place in Kazimierz Dolny (a small town in central eastern Poland) from 9th to 11th of September 2019.

Hynek Roubík from our #BiogasResearchTeam – the youngest editorial board member of Journal of Ecological Engineering - became the youngest editorial board member of Journal of Vietnamese Environment

Our new research paper entitled: “Biogas Quality across Small-Scale Biogas Plants: A Case of Central Vietnam” has been just published!

This March had Hynek Roubík from BIOGAS RESEARCH TEAM plenary speech at the 2nd Conference on Valorisation of Agricultural Residues in Vietnam 

Our new paper dealing with entitled: “Current approach to manure management for small-scale Southeast Asian farmers - Using Vietnamese biogas and non-biogas farms as an example” has been published in Renewable Energy! You can read it here.

Introducing Biogas Research Team - revealing current state, bottlenecks and perspectives of small- and medium-scale biogas plants in Southeast Asian countries by Hynek Roubík and Jana Mazancová. 

Hynek Roubík presented his research focused on "Small- and medium-scale biogas plants in Sri Lanka: Case study on flue gas analysis of biogas cookers" in the 7th International Conference on Biosystems Engineering 2016