A trial facility to process and extract energy from organic waste has started tests in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Installed in a processing plant belonging to the City Company of Urban Cleaning (Comlurb), in the Caju neighborhood, the pilot plant completed a month in operation in December 2019. The plant is comparable to an in-vessel composting plant and is able to extract 100 to 150 cubic meters of biogas per processed tonne, with 50% – 60% methane concentration.
The technology, which produces fertilizer and natural gas from waste, was developed by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in partnership with companies Methanum Tecnologia Ambiental and Comlurb.
The operation of the pilot plant, which was funded by BNDES, will allow testing the efficiency parameters of the methanization technology by anaerobic composting of increasing volumes. With a processing capacity of 30 tonnes daily, the plant has an estimated monthly biogas production capable of feeding a fleet of 1,000 cars or generating enough energy for just over a thousand houses.
Modules
The unit consists of modules the approximate size of a container, which receive the waste and are sealed for a period of two to three weeks, while the bacteria introduced into the compartment degrades the organic matter and produce methane, explained the operators. The gas is stored while the remaining material is removed and used as fertilizer.
Microorganisms are sprayed into the modules through pipes with heavy use of electronics. Sensors and meters enable the control and optimizing of biogas production. The plant also has a generator to produce electric energy from gas combustion.
The Comlurb plant in Caju neighborhood was chosen because it receives solid waste from different neighborhoods, with different consumption and waste production standards, offering enough diversity to simulate the conditions of different Brazilian towns. In addition, Comlurb already has a conventional composting plant with in situ aerobic digestion, which allows comparing the results of the two technologies.
