Estudio de pre-factibilidad de la transformación de residuos orgánicos municipales en energía

Abstract

Energy generation from renewable energy sources is an alternative to the effects of climate change caused by the use of fossil fuels. In this case, the use of garden waste from the Municipality of Escazú for the generation of electricity through a gasification process was proposed, in a fluidized bed system using air as gasifying agent. For the estimation of the energy production, the chemical process simulation software ASPEN HYSYS was used, considering the characterization of the waste, complemented with values reported in literature. The results of the simulation allowed to determine the characteristics of the synthesis gas (syngas) and the power of the proposed system. In addition, these data were compared with those of the gasifier from the Forestal Engineering Department of the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica (TEC) and with the theoretical performance of the selected equipment. The gasification for the proposed design would have a production of 3120 kWh for a consumption of 4 tonnes per month of garden waste. Based on the economic analysis considering self-consumption scenario, it was obtained a 5,6-year investment recovery period and a 8.88% rate of return for a discount rate of 5.0%, meaning that the gasification plant is a viable project.