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Biogas, "is the pre-salt hillbilly", says Minister of Mines and Energy, in reference to the oil and natural gas reserve found by Petrobras
The world's largest biogas plant using agricultural raw materials was inaugurated last Friday (16) by the giant ethanol producer in Brazil, Raízen. The unit was called 'pre-salt caipira' by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, who attended the ceremony. Take advantage and subscribe Raízen opened vacancies for candidates with no experience looking for their first job!
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Located in Guariba (SP), 340 kilometers from São Paulo, Raízen's biogas plant based on sugarcane by-products is capable of producing electricity to supply a city of 150 inhabitants for one year. The plant estimates a production of 138 megawatt-hours (MWh) as of the 2021/22 harvest, scheduled to start in April.
According to Raízen, of this total energy generated, 96 MWh will be sold under a contract negotiated at auction, signed in 2016, two years before the start of construction on the project. The rest can be traded on the free market or in other contracts.
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The fuels used to generate energy will be vinasse and filter cake, from sugarcane fields, which will be used throughout the harvest, and filter cake, used in the off-season. At the plant, in Guariba, the annual processing of sugar cane is 5 million tons.
In the production process, bacteria will transform the by-products into biogas. Afterwards, the gas produced is taken through pipelines to generators, where it will be burned and transformed into electricity.
caipira pre-salt
The hidden treasure in the interior of Brazil, called 'pre-salt caipira' by the minister, is biogas, a renewable and abundant source of energy produced from agricultural waste and which has the advantage of being next to production centers spread across the country, but still little explored.
O minister de Minas e Energia Bento Albuquerque named the operation 'pre-salt caipira', in reference to the oil and natural gas reserve found by Petrobras more than seven thousand meters below sea level in Brazil, in 2006.
“Biogas and biomethane, in addition to being used to generate electricity, can also replace the diesel oil used in buses, trucks and agricultural machinery. Or even, in the case of biomethane, being generated in the gas pipeline network (…) It is the caipira pre-salt”, he said.
In Brazil, 521 biogas plants were in operation in 2019, according to a survey by the Brazilian Association of Biogas. Of these, most generate energy through pig farming, followed by landfill and sewage residues, and also by sugarcane derivatives, such as straw.
