by Rod Hughes
The Ministry of Energy and the Environment, along with Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) technicians are studying the use of biomass digesters to produce electricity. The country, they point out, produces agricultural waste from sugar refining and the processing of pineapple for export.
The generators would use decomposing plant material to produce inflammable methane gas that could be used instead of fossil fuel-powered generators in use now, a drain on the economy. Technicians theorize that such biomass generators could produce double the electricity currently generated by the 372-megawatt Arenal hydroelectric dam, revealed the daily newspaper La Nación..
But the Guanacaste province sugar refineries currently burn sugar cane after the juice has been crushed out and the thick stems dried, in order to produce power for their own needs. As it is, ICE currently buys seven megawatts from those refineries.
Pineapple is another story, 40,000 hectares produce the fruit for export, leaving behind tons of biodegradeable material after the produce is boxed for export. None of this pineapple byproduct is among the 29% of agricultural waste being used.
No mention was made in the study for use of cattle and chicken dung, an even more efficient source of methane.