Biomass Energy

Biomass energy comes from organic waste of animal and vegetable origin, such as sugarcane bagasse, coffee waste, corn, rice and others. Biofuels are also included within biomass. These are the product of chemical reactions of animal or plant waste and of fermentation of plant by-products.

Guatemala has plantations of energy forests of sugarcane, Jatropha curca and African palm sufficient to produce biomass fuels in a sustainable way, supply the current energy demand at the national level and mitigate the adverse effects generated by the indiscriminate consumption of fossil fuels.

It is necessary to strengthen, update and execute the legislation and existing fiscal incentives related to biomass fuels to guarantee their competitiveness in energy projects in the center of the national energy market.

The capacity for analysis and planning of the national energy system must be strengthened to guarantee objective and practical decisions in the use of biofuels and mitigate the economic, social and environmental impacts generated by the indiscriminate use of conventional fuels.

It is recommended to encourage investment in the development of efficient technology and sustainable development programs for the production and use of biofuels in order to supply the national energy demand.

The national production of ethanol is carried out through sugar cane plantations, specifically honey, a by-product generated in the production of sugar.

There are currently 12 sugar mills operating in Guatemala, located in 4 departments on the Pacific coast, Escuintla, Santa Rosa, Suchitepéquez and Retalhuleu.

In the 2010-11 harvest, these factories cultivated an area of 235 thousand hectares, representing 2.15% of the national area and 7.83% of the total arable area. (ASAZGUA, 2012).

Guatemala has 5 distilleries for ethanol production: Palo Gordo, Servicios Manufactureros, Darsa, Bioethanol, MAG alcohols, registered through the General Directorate of Hydrocarbons of the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The installed capacity of the distilleries is 95% with the exception of the Palo Gordo distillery, which works with 65%; This percentage is due to the fact that it was one of the first distilleries to operate and the initial design of the plant was not to produce ethanol. Estimates made by the General Directorate of Hydrocarbons establish that total ethanol production is 1 390, 000 million liters per day or 265 million liters per year.

Only the BIOETANOL refinery produces anhydrous ethanol for national automobile use; the other refineries (4 located in 12 refineries) produce and export ethanol for industrial uses; information referred by the General Directorate of Hydrocarbons. Currently, the country has the potential to replace significant amounts of fossil fuels (10%) in many transportation applications; for example, the mixture called E10, made up of 10% ethanol and 90% petroleum, which is applicable in most ignition engines, without requiring any prior modification.

Regarding the raw material to produce ethanol, the figure shows the raw material yields for the production of fuel biofuels and the production yields measured in liters of biofuel produced per cultivated hectare, published in the document Implications for the development of biofuels in Guatemala , USAC, DIGI, 2007.

Their advantages indicate that they can reduce dependence on petroleum derivatives, save foreign exchange, reduce CO2 emissions, the use of some residues reduces environmental pollution, for example waste from pigs and cattle.

Among its disadvantages are that its large areas of crops can displace human food crops, increasing or causing the food crisis, its price could be higher than oil derivatives when considering environmental aggregates, it produces methane gas that released into the environment can contribute to the greenhouse effect.

References

Guevara Abauta, Luz María (2012) Síntesis y cálculos sobre contenido energético, equivalencias energéticas y precios de los combustibles de biomasa en Guatemala, como elemento de decisión para uso de proyectos energéticos. Masters thesis, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.

https://mem.gob.gt/que-hacemos/area-energetica/energias-renovables/energia-de-la-biomasa/