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Potential of electricity generation by organic wastes in Latin America: a techno-economic-environmental analysis

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Abstract

Waste-to-energy technologies from anaerobic digestion (WtE-DA) are successfully used in European countries for electricity generation. In Mexico, the application of these processes is limited due to their design and operation complexity, high required investment, high operations and maintenance costs, and low government support, which hinders their economic competitiveness. This work conducted a study to determine the best conditions of electricity generation through WtE-DA processes to be competitive compared with the conventional process. An industrial-scale process was designed regarding the co-digestion of fruit and vegetable waste from a food supply center with slaughterhouse waste from the Monterrey Metropolitan Area in Mexico. Analysis scenarios were strategically proposed considering different sizes of the WtE-DA plant, transport distance from the source of waste to the process, and the degree of government participation through economic subsidies granted to clean energy production. The environmental performance of the plant was evaluated via the climate change indicator (CCI) following a life cycle analysis approach, and the net present value (NPV) was used as an economic criterion. The results show that the CCI has a high sensitivity to the waste transport distance, having a maximum of 130 km to ensure environmental success. The sensitivity analysis performed on the management capacity and NPV indicates that plants smaller than 72,000 t year−1 are economically unviable and require governmental financial support like that granted in European countries. This work provides reliable operating, eco-efficiency criteria, and subsidy schemes to support decision-making for proper investment in bioenergy projects.

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Funding

The Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon supported this work through PAICYT grant 573-IT-2022 and 591-IT-2022.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. Av, Universidad S/N, Cd. Universitaria, zip 64451, San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

    Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Pasiano Rivas-García, Rafael Arturo Briones-Cristerna & Mónica María Alcalá-Rodríguez

  2. Centro de Investigacion en Biotecnologia Y Nanotecnologia, Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas, Parque de Investigacion E InnovacionTecnologica, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, km 10 Highway to the International Airport Mariano Escobedo, zip 66629, Apodaca, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

    Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Pasiano Rivas-García & Rafael Arturo Briones-Cristerna

  3. Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica, UNICAMP, Cidade Universitária “Zeferino Vaz”, Rua Mendeleyev 200, Campinas, SP, 13083-860, Brazil

    Joaquim Eugenio Abel-Seabra

  4. School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Alejandro Padilla-Rivera

  5. Departamento de Ingenieria Bioquimica, Instituto Tecnologico de Celaya. Av. Tecnologico Y A. Garcia Cubas, zip 38010, Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico

    José Enrique Botello-Álvarez

  6. Département de Génie de La Construction, École de Technologie Supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H3C 1K3, Canada

    Annie Levasseur

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  1. Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez
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  2. Pasiano Rivas-García
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  6. José Enrique Botello-Álvarez
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  7. Mónica María Alcalá-Rodríguez
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  8. Annie Levasseur
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Pasiano Rivas-García, Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez; data curation: Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Pasiano Rivas-García, Rafael Arturo Briones-Cristerna; formal analysis: Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Pasiano Rivas-García, José Enrique Botello-Álvarez; funding acquisition: Pasiano Rivas-García; investigation: Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Rafael Arturo Briones-Cristerna; methodology: Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Rafael Arturo Briones-Cristerna; project administration: Pasiano Rivas-García; resources: Pasiano Rivas-García; software: Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Rafael Arturo Briones-Cristerna, Pasiano Rivas-García; supervision: Pasiano Rivas-García; validation: Pasiano Rivas-García, José Enrique Botello-Álvarez, Joaquim Eugenio Abel-Seabra, Alejandro Padilla-Rivera, Mónica María Alcalá-Rodríguez, Annie Levasseur; visualization: Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Pasiano Rivas-García; writing—original draft: Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Pasiano Rivas-García, José Enrique Botello-Álvarez, Alejandro Padilla-Rivera; writing—review and editing: Pasiano Rivas-García, Joaquim Eugenio Abel-Seabra, Alejandro Padilla-Rivera, Mónica María Alcalá-Rodríguez, Annie Levasseur.

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Miramontes-Martínez, L.R., Rivas-García, P., Briones-Cristerna, R.A. et al. Potential of electricity generation by organic wastes in Latin America: a techno-economic-environmental analysis. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03393-1

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