TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF AN ELECTRICITY GENERATION PLANT FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE IN HONDURAS, CENTRAL AMERICA.

Authors

Lobo Rodriguez, Roger Dagoberto

Gutierrez Vargas, Santiago

Villatoro Flores, Hector Fernando

Abstract

La Ceiba, Atlántida, is an important tourist city in Honduras with a population of 214,917 inhabitants. In the last decade, the city's economy has declined, affecting the city's electricity and environmental sectors. In the environmental sector, it has been more than 20 years since a company specialized in the treatment of municipal solid waste has been contracted, and in the electrical sector, investment in studies of electrical generation projects has been difficult, causing overloading of the lines and interruptions in the flow of electricity. Based on this problem, it was decided to carry out a technical feasibility study to serve as a reference for the implementation of an electricity generation plant using biogas generated from biomass from the municipal solid waste of La Ceiba. A small-scale methodology for the characterization of solid waste was implemented to serve as a reference for future research, in order to know the amount of raw material available for the project and to have an orderly accounting of municipal solid waste. It is proposed to evaluate the technical feasibility by calculating whether the available raw material to be used is sufficient and by designing a biomass plant that meets the needs of the available raw material. Finally, a calculation of the CO2 emissions that the project will emit will be made, in order to have a better control of the environmental part. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that organic matter from municipal solid waste can be used to feed two lagoon-type biodigesters for the production of biogas that can be used as fuel to feed an electric generator to produce electric energy in La Ceiba.