By: Eduardo M. Lora Yunen
President, LatAm Bioenergy
elora@latambioenergy.com
Exclusive to, and originally published in, the magazine “EL MUNDO DE LOS NEGOCIOS” (The World of Business), and from now on, in this as in Portals, Newsletters, and Networks, of others Multimedia of The Ballester Group, Inc.
A circular economy provides multiple mechanisms of value creation not linked to the consumption of finite resources. This term covers much more than the relationship between production and consumption of goods and services, including the transition from fossil fuels to the use of renewable energy and its diversification, as a means to achieve a low carbon economy.
In the Dominican Republic, for example, the agroindustrial sector, specifically rice, coconut, palm oil, coffee, sugarcane, forest by-products, among others, generate in their transformation process a material that does not compete with food production, and that has energy stored which can be classified as biomass.
Biomass from agro-industrial activities is the key to the creation of a circular economy. These facilities, which have access to on-site by-products, have the advantage of generating energy in an affordable, profitable and sustainable manner, hence creating a value cycle throughout the entire technological chain. For example, a Dominican rice mill implemented an industrial biomass gasification plant using its excess rice husk as an energy carrier with an installed capacity of 800 kilowatts for self-consumption purposes. The plant entered into operations in 2017, lowering its production costs and preventing the emission of more than 3.5 thousand tons of CO2e into the atmosphere.
This renewable energy power plant not only guarantees base energy to ensure a cost-efficient operation of rice production, but generates among the byproducts, a commonly known as “biochar”, which is being used as a soil enhancer for crops with a lower carbon footprint.
Simultaneously, the technology can be used to generate biofuels, hot and cold water, as well as steam for applications within the food production chain, generating additional benefits to the agroindustry, such as climatization of paddy rice storage silos that have not yet been introduced to the mill.
In 2018, another small-scale gasification plant entered in operation using Acacia mangium wood chips as the primary energy carrier, for a potential generation of 600 kilowatts, an estimated emission reduction of 2.8 thousand tons of CO2e into the atmosphere and steam produced by a simple co-generation procedure, thus, lowering its production costs.
The Dominican Republic has tax incentives and favorable conditions for renewable energy to be adapted by virtually anyone who wants to reduce their energy cost, carbon footprint and be part of the circular economy.
As a company, one of our main objectives has been developing and promoting the technological platform that allows agro-industrial SMEs, sawmills and energy farms in the country, to access cost-efficient solutions, integrating industrial processes that guarantee energy generation from renewable sources, while monetizing the by-products of the operation.
Note: LatAm BioEnergy is a renewable energy company that develops clean energy generation solutions through biomass gasification, as well as photovoltaic systems in the Dominican Republic since 2015 and it aims to identify, evaluate and implement sustainable and efficient clean energy technologies, with respect for food security and the environment throughout the Latin American region.
To find out how to join the circular economy, write us to: info @ latambioenergy. website: www.latambioenergy.com