FEASIBILITY OF ADOPTING ALTERNATIVE SUBSTRATES TO VINEYARD, SUCH AS MOLASSES AND GLYCEROL, IN BIODIGESTION WITH AIM FOR THE GENERATION OF BIOGAS IN THE SUGARCANE BETWEEN-HARVEST PERIOD

• Grant number: 24/00418-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Lucas Tadeu Fuess
• Grantee: Leonardo Matias de Oliveira Filho
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/10615-1 - Consolidation of the biorefinery concept applied to the biological treatment of wastewater and solid wastes, AP.TEM

Abstract

Sugarcane harvest periods have a high potential for generating wastewater that has a very high potential for energy use and is widely disseminated in the scientific community. However, it is notable that there are off-season periods in which the generation of these compounds is compromised, also negatively influencing the generation of compounds with high added value. The adoption of alternative compounds unrelated to this period presents an opportunity to take advantage of resources that are saturated in the market, due to their high production resulting from production processes, compounds such as glycerol and sugar cane molasses can prove to be excellent potential substitutes for vinasse throughout off-season periods. Therefore, the anaerobic biodigestion of these wastes is very interesting, since their treatment and biogas generation can be enhanced through the application of a microbial community through its inoculation using granular sludge. Outlining a possibility of applying this proposal on an industrial scale, as it comprises a sustainable alternative for the industry, as it assists in the process of treating liquid waste saturated in the market, generating energy through the production of biogas, and, consequently, economic impacts and social issues on an industrial scale. Therefore, three stages will be simulated, a harvest period with feeding exclusively by vinasse, going through an off-harvest period, in which alternative substrates to vinasse will be used to feed the reactors, returning to the harvest period, returning to vinasse feeding. . Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the behavior of the reactor, depending on the consumption of organic matter and generation of biogas, and the re-adoption of vinasse to feed the reactor after the off-season, thus verifying the feasibility of applying the solution proposed in this project.