1. Introduction
Organic wastes from animal production, agricultural and byproducts
of agricultural and food processing industries have become
major sources of environmental and social problems
throughout the world in both developed and developing countries.
In Egypt, rice straw is considered one of the main agricultural
wastes which represent about 4 million tons annually produced
every autumn. It is traditionally disposed of, by burning in situ,
causing real harmful environmental implications through producing
huge black clouds of smoke that affect all the adjacent municipalities.
The problems are varied and even affect human health.
Furthermore, the production of CO2 during burning has been linked
to global warming as green house gases.
Vinasse, as another main by-product waste in Egypt, is the dark
brown aqueous generated from the distillation of ethanol following
fermentation of carbohydrates in volume more than
2000 m3 day1 from Sugar and Integrated Industries Company in
Hawamdia. It creates serious environmental problems when throw
out into either water bodies and/or land (Diaz et al., 2002).
Okara, or soy pulp, a rich protein by-product, is another pollution
problem added during the manufacturing of soymilk and tofu
(Wang and Cavins, 1989).