Developing Costa Rica’s Decentralized Biogas Industry

Heekyung An – Logistics Ohio State University

Jesse Bowlin – Mechanical Engineering Washington State University

Alyssa Hendricks – Atmospheric Science Purdue University

Ryan Ramsey – Chemical Engineering University of Utah

David Rodriquez – Mechanical Engineering University of Massachusetts - Lowell

Outline

Project Introduction

History of Biodigester

Why Costa Rica

Goals

Business plan

Phase I

Technology

Region of focus

Future development

Phase II

Phase III

Conclusion

Project Introduction Implement use of methane producing, biodigestors for

creation of fuel

Costa Rica ideal place

Convert waste to methane gas for transportation

Individual farms

Advance project to all waste

Act as non-profit organization between farmers and methane distributors

Biogas Facts: One cow can produce

enough manure in one day to generate 3 KWh

NO2 warms the atmosphere 310 times more and methane 21 times more than CO2

If compressed, it can replace CNG for vehicles

internal combustion engine or fuel cells

100W for

24hrs

=

Transportation Fuel:

CNG conversion kit <$1000

Applications around the World UK: biogas estimated to replace around

17% of vehicle fuel. 30,000 Oxfordshire homes sewage treatment to provide gas for ~200 homes

USA: methane biogas from cow manure would be sufficient to produce 100 billion KWh (millions of homes).

Germany: in 2010 there were 5,905 biogas plants (mostly manure/corn) operating throughout the whole country. ~12.8 TWh (%12.6 per of the total generated renewable electricity)

A biogas-powered train has been in service in Sweden since 2005.

More than half the gas used in Sweden's 11,500 natural gas vehicles is biogas.

Germany and Austria are targeting 20% biogas in natural gas vehicle fuel

Low cost, rural Biodigesters Quick Facts:

Local materials and no active heating systems and/or mobile mixing mechanisms.

Low investment $150 in warm/tropical

and $250 in cold climates

No wood burning

Health / Hygiene

Free natural fertilizer, improves crop yields by up to 30%.

Why Costa Rica? Country that values renewable energy

technologies.

No producing natural gas and needs to import.

Presidential decree

Import more LNG

LNG is cleaner than petroleum-based fuels and will help reduce NO2 emissions from vehicles by up to 70 %, and CO2 by 40 %.

A barrel of crude oil currently costs ~$95, Equivalent of natural gas costs about $25.

Why not do more decentralized biogas productions instead of importing more?

Others issues: water waste (i.e. from hotels) is not treated and getting back to aquifers

“We know that the primary cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Costa Rica is the transportation sector,

which consumes 78% of petroleum derivatives the

country imports. Liquefied natural gas is precisely an

alternative for us to begin migrating from fossil fuels to

less-polluting alternatives at a lower cost”

November 27, 2012: Officials hope to replace petroleum imports with cleaner natural gas.

Goals Reduce fossil fuels in transportation

Help Costa Rica to achieve carbon neutrality by 2021

Lower dependence on foreign natural gas

Increase awareness and get more people involved with sustainable living

Help stimulate socio-economic development, specially in rural communities.

Advance the introduction of natural gas for vehicles as a transitional fuel (to emission free fuels such as Hydrogen).

Business Pan Partner with local organizations

GREEN

Earth University

Micro-finance projects

Not giving anything out for free

Donations would jump-start initial investments

Users (i.e. farmers) will be able to cover their costs due to a quick return on investment (i.e. value of methane produced, surplus can be sold)

Two-phase Approach

Phase I Technology

Low cost biodigestor

Schematic

Parts list

Chart showing largest biogas yield per tons of waste

Calculations

Energy equivalent of a typical farm waste

Compare animal farm and crop farm

~80 Cows

~1900 lbs Manure

~7400 lbs Slurry

~67 m^3 Biogas ~65% Methane ~35% CO2

~400 kWh

Phase I Region of focus

Sarapiqui

Canton in Heredia Providence

Capitol is Puerto Viejo

Large concentration of dairy farms

Pilot case study in a small rural community

Provide farms with biodigestors

Farmers use biogas to heat house and cook

Use surplus gas to pay back the biodigestors

Take gas to be processed to use in CNG cars and other things

Phase II Centralized sanitation-biogas generation plants for small-medium communities

Begin government and municipalities involvement

Expanding market to hotels & large business centers

Pumping black water

Buy-back incentive

Estimated Cost for a 1 MW (non-automobile grade) digester is from $3.6M to $4.9M

ROI of about 1.5 years

Goal: Develop biogas technology and infrastructure on a community scale and begin recruiting government support

Phase III Replacing imported natural gas industry with biogas

Expanding over Costa Rica to offset imported natural gas consumption.

Jump start biogas industry in other countries

Estimated cost of transition to utility/automotive grade biogas is $4-5M per MW output.

ROI of about 2 years

Goal: Grow natural gas technology and infrastructure to a national level with the co-operation of government and utilities.

Livestock requirements to sustain 0.1 to 5 MW operations

Size of Operation (MWe) 0.1 0.3 0.5 1.5 5

Animal Requirement (head)

Beef Feeder 2,186 6,558 10,930 32,791 109,302

Beef Finisher 1,053 3,158 5,263 15,790 52,633

Dairy Cows 421 1,264 2,107 3,322 21,072

Hog Farrow to Finisher 3,445 10,336 17,226 51,678 172,261

Hog Farrow to Wean 364 1,091 1,818 5,453 18,176

Layers 9,541 28,624 47,707 143,120 477,066

Broilers 37,431 112,294 187,157 561,470 1,871,568

Conclusion Help Costa Rica become more:

Sustainable

Environmentally conscious

Independent of foreign fuel imports

Biodigesters stimulate regional economic development

Natural gas burns cleaner than gasoline and diesel

significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions when from biofuels

Ideally, if successful, can be implemented in more developing countries

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodigester

http://www.ideassonline.org/public/pdf/BrochureBiodigestersENG.pdf

http://news.co.cr/costa-rica-president-declares-natural-gas-in-public-interest/19929/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_vehicle

http://www.ticotimes.net/Current-Edition/News-Briefs/Decree-could-help-boost-liquefied-natural-gas-imports-in-Costa-Rica_Tuesday-November-27-2012

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/emerging_biogas.html

http://www.socalgas.com/innovation/natural-gas-vehicles/policy/fuel-comparison.shtml

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/12-043.htm