Biochar as a strategy to intensify the production of biogas and biomethane from food industry waste: experimental study and life cycle assessment based on the concept of biorefinery (4Bio)

• Grant number: 23/05067-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: August 31, 2023
• End date: August 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Tânia Forster Carneiro
• Grantee: Jean Agustin Velásquez Piñas
• Supervisor: Irini Angelidaki
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/08696-0 - Biorefineries in the context of food industries and their approach to sustainability: energy, technical-economic and environmental analysis based on biogas and biomethane production (ZeWaFFI), BP.PD

Abstract

Brazil has to increase food production by 40% over the next ten years to satisfy local and international demand, playing a fundamental role in proper waste management. In this sense, anaerobic digestion emerges as an alternative for the proper treatment of organic waste from the food industries, which in turn can generate renewable energy through biogas and biomethane production. On the other hand, biochar, also from residual biomass, emerges as an alternative to increasing biogas production compared to traditional production systems. In this context, the present research project seeks to complement the studies of the ZeWaFFI project through the search for strategies to intensify the production of biogas and biomethane through the use of biochar from the pyrolysis of waste from the coffee industry obtained from different temperatures. For this, CSTR-type biodigester reactors will be used, where tests will be carried out to measure the performance of biogas and biomethane production. TGA, SEM-EDS, XRD, and SSA analyses will be carried out to understand the characteristics and structures of the biochar and how they affect biogas production. Substrate-related characterizations such as TS, VS, pH, TAN, TKN, and VFA will also be carried out to monitor the performance of the System. Finally, a study using life cycle assessment tools will be carried out with the results obtained in order to know the environmental impacts from cradle to grave of biogas production technology using biochar as an additive. The results served as an alternative to improve the competitiveness of the food industries that generate organic waste. In addition, the exchange experience will significantly contribute to learning new knowledge and consolidating the collaboration between UNICAMP and DTU. (AU)