Raízen and Geo Energética have announced a joint venture to create the world’s first commercial scale plant to use filter cake and vinasse conversion technology, sugarcane by-products, as raw materials for biogas production and power generation power.
Raízen will have 85% stake in the joint venture and Geo Energética 15%. Geo Energética is currently the only company to use filter cake and sugarcane vinasse as sources for biogas generation and power generation, in a demonstration plant with installed capacity of generating up to 4MW of energy.
The combination of the filter cake with vinasse to obtain biogas in the new plant will allow a production of 138 thousand MWh per year, enough to supply, for example, the city of Guariba (SP) – headquarters of the future factory – and nearby cities .
“With this initiative, Raízen reinforces its pioneering efforts in innovation and industry development with a focus on clean and renewable energy, in line with public policies, such as the RenovaBio. With this, we once again consolidate our role as protagonists of sustainability through circular economy, taking advantage of all the waste and inputs used in our processes in the generation of new products. In this way, we contribute directly to the environment by reusing industrial waste and creating sustainable products that help clean the Brazilian energy matrix, “explains João Alberto Abreu, executive vice president of Raízen’s Ethanol, Sugar and Energy area.
Biogas
Biogas is the result of a complex production process in which biodigestors convert the organic matter of the pie (remaining residues from the purification of sugarcane juice composed of 70% water, 18% organic matter and 12% other solids) and vinasse (remaining water from the distillation process composed of 95% water, 3% salts and 2% organic load) in methane and CO2, the so-called biogas. This mixture undergoes a process of desulfurization – for the purification of the gas – and then goes to motor generators. It is in these generators that biogas is transformed into electrical energy.
Once purified, biogas has the same characteristics as natural gas (96.5% methane) and can therefore be used in the form of biomethane as a substitute for diesel as a fuel for cars, tractors and trucks, in an initiative aligned with the resolutions.
“It is a unique, 100% sustainable solution capable of revolutionizing the treatment of organic wastes from the Brazilian agroindustry, especially the sugar and alcohol industry, which has the best operational logistics in the world and is capable of becoming self-sufficient in the generation and consumption of green energy, including the use of biomethane as an automotive fuel. Brazil has great potential in this area, as it is capable of producing this green energy throughout the year, without any damage to the environment, “said the directors of GEO Energética, Alessandro Gardemann and Evaldo Fabian.
According to preliminary data from RenovaCalc, biomethane reduces CO2 emissions by 96%, not counting the emission of pollutant particles, and is 90% lower than fossil fuels. These values are equivalent to the EURO 6 classification, the maximum level of the European regulatory standard for reducing the emission of pollutants from diesel vehicles. A cleaner, sustainable technology with benefits for the consumer and the environment.
Plant
The biogas plant is being built next to the Bonfim unit, in Raízen, in the city of Guariba (SP). The plant has Raízen’s second largest grinding operation, grinding more than five million tons per year. This generates high volume of vinasse and filter cake, which meets the needs of a commercial scale biogas production plant. In addition, the unit already has an energy export infrastructure that will require minimal changes to meet the needs of the biogas plant.
The plant also has a partnership with Sebigás / Cótica, a company that will be responsible for the construction of part of the biodigestion of vinasse.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.