Anaerobic digestion of vinasse: energetic application of biogas and acquisition of credits of carbon – a case

Abstract

The increase of the ethanol production in Brazil leads to growing of vinasse (main by-product of sugar and alcohol industry), worsing the problem related to its destinantion. Vinasse is rich in nutrients and has a high content of organic matter, which justifies its intense ferti-irrigation use in sugar cane crop areas. Thus, the anaerobic digestion of vinasse by UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket digestion) reactor emerges as an alternative treatment for this by-product, showing also an economic factor, the production of methane and its use. This work aimed to implement the system of anaerobic digestion of vinasse in UASB reactor and the use of energy generated by biogas. In this way, the design of UASB was based on organic volumetrical load of vinasse. The estimation of the baseline was based on the mass balance between the carbon present in the vinasse and CO₂ emitted by the aerobic degradation of effluent into the environment. From the compute emissions, it was found that emissions from the baseline and the project implementation would be the same, and additionally it could be occur the production of electricity by biogas. In this way, biogas produced by anaerobic digestion has a competitive energy potential compared to other energy sources and presents additionality; however, carbon credits marked could not be a financial attractive in the development of this type of project.