AUTHORS: Prof. MB Climaco Cezar - THE HAHN-AGROVISION - BRASILIA – BRAZIL www.hahn-immo.com AND Prof. Dr. Andreas Hahn - Hahn Immobilien und nlageberatung Brasilien Gewerberegister – CHEMNITZ – GERMANY - http://www.planetproperty.de
Thanks to the traditional ethanol and biodiesel units, and more recently thanks to the plants for solar and wind energy as well as the future plants for ethanol biomass, BRAZIL IS ALREADY the pioneering country in terms of sustainable energy worldwide and this without considering that our giant hydroelectric power system is also quite sustainable although not in suche a complete way.
With so many plants being deployed in Brazil and our giant potential for much more than that it is already possible and justified to ask these technical and environmental questions: Pre-salt and its petroleum and oil royalties - will it be for our internal development or for exports?
The more I dedicate myself to these diagnostics in relation to the energy and environmental competitiveness in many countries, the more I am delighted and satisfied with the immense responsibility and potential of Brazil, and not to mention the agricultural revolution that has occurred in Brazil with our intensive planting of GMO crops and via planting directly, techniques that allow high yields, high rural income, very cheap foods and real domestic development - and all this with minimal generation of environmental problems, supported by scientific analysis and without any environmental radicalism.
At this point I would like to highlight the immense possibilities of biomass gasification, via technologies developed entirely in Brazil. It represents not only the quick solution to many serious environmental problems due to high volumes of urban and rural waste plus industrial residues collected every day and still deposited on soils, in the sea, rivers, lakes, sewage pipelines etc.) but also an unquestionable opportunity to generate elevated volumes of electricity for their own use or for sales. The current climate changes show that we need to stop quickly with these severe environmental crimes caused by consumers and businesses and which lead to numerous environmental calamities, leading to the deaths of people, animals and plants. Thus, new paradimgs of energy generation should not build upon degenerative forms or new pollution of soil, water and air. Many of the solutions and systems in use or under current installation are to generate new local or regional crimes against humans, animals, plants and the environment, exclusively based on profiteering, without considering the environmental impact.
What is worse, many irresponsible companies of some well-known countries are irresponsibly installing or exporting expensive and ineffective systems for processing garbage and other debris in poor countries of Africa, the Middle East, Arab countries and Latin America only to obtain high profits and also generating very high degrees of local corruption. Especially the UN, WTO and global environmental NGOs need immediately to investigate and ban this false trade or this false direct investment.
I researched and compared several technologies for waste gasification, including their subsidies granted for local plants (which greatly misrepresent the costs and real results) and their gross and net results in Germany, USA, Spain, China and others countries. And I came to the conclusion that it is the best technique and method – in terms of benefit and economic cost; it is the most socially fair technology and it does not generate any new hazardous waste or environmental problems. Additionally it is being developed here in Brazil. However, this all occurs, unfortunately, without the participation of official researchers from universities and public research instutitions. So far, I come to mention two engineers/scientists/inventors of the interior, who managed to process good volumes of trash or waste (of various types) and turn them into initial pyrolytic carbon and also into high volumes of syngas, also refered to as synthetic gas. I then remembered the determination and drive of the Engineer and Physicist, Prof. Dr. Bautista Vidal, from Bahia State, without whom we would not have ethanol, and of whom everyone doubted in the very beginning.
With these new techniques - unique, simple and cheap - gasification of many biomasses can be obtained good volumes of syngas (a gas very different from the known rural biogas and semi-urban gas, having a high share of hydrogen - up to 40% - and low participation of methane - up to 8%). After taming, containing and purifiyng it can be burned in closed manner (in motogenerators otto cycle or turbo-generators for steam) to generate large amounts of electricity and expelling only carbon dioxide, the so-called "gas of life” because it represents the basis of plant photosynthesis.
Thus, it is possible to gasify both urban and rural waste, sewage waste, cultivated wood released to biomass production; tire debris; rubber; hospitals waste; food waste and other. Each type generates different amounts and types of syngas for different electricity generation.
In the present system, currently being developed, for example by GWEBrasil (
www.gwebrasil.com ), the only one that uses stainless steel gasifiers for up to 5 tons / hour, ( with up to 50% humidity, averaging 2,900 kcal / kg (less than wood chips biomass with an average of 3,200 kcal / kg) each 01 ton of common urban waste can generate up to 01 mwh of electricity and all this with a total investment of around only US $ 1.14 to us $ 1.43 million / tonne of waste to be processed (by currency forecast of R$ 3,50 = us $ 1,00) depending on the quality of the waste and making use of very good and cheap syngas motor-generators imported from China by LVHUAN (
http://www.lvhuandongli.com/en/).
Besides being very cheap, the total investment needed is certainly 20% cheaper than company or public investments in landfills with expensive maintenance and further generation of new air, water and soil contaminants; 30% lower than small-scale Brazilian hydro power plants; 50% lower than Brazil wind power farms and up to 70% less than Brazil´s solar energy plants. The costs mainly depend of the domestic steel prices and of some imported items as well as the installation location. In terms of financial results, a GWEBrasil + LVHUAN standard processing plant, for example, processes 6 tons per hour of urban/rural waste or forestry and others biomass or industries residuals, reducing the waste amount of several cities, with up to 150.000 inhabitants, and with total cost of approximately only US $ 8.6 million it can not only solve the serious environmental problems of the population or companies, but also generate up to 6 MWH of energy. The sale of such electric energy in Brazil can provide annual revenues of approximately US $ 4.0 million / year (considering US $ 83.00 / MW seller price in long-term x 8000 hours operating per year x 6 mw hour).
With this and deducting certain processing and functional costs (remembering that the waste has zero cost) that plant would have very high net revenue of around us $ 2.3 to us $ 2.9 million / year depending on the waste quality; the location of the plant and the modalities of the sale of electricity. This net revenue still excludes gross revenues of processing and sales of recyclable and other public or private revenue for the correct and legal disposal and sales of environmental rights by the non-emission of methane, sulfur and other more harmful gases and also the much smaller carbon footprint.
I foresee even environmental and energy self-sufficiency – totally or partially - of many public and private buildings of medium or large sizes, if provided with good waste or residuals generators and with properly exposed roofs. With the addition of solar cells on the roofs to capture and store solar energy (up to 7 hours / day with enough intensity) plus smaller plants to gasify biomass (local and own waste and residuals) installed in the basement or neighboring areas, such buildings would become self-sufficient all by own systems, in a very cheap manner and without generating new pollution. All the rains could also be collected and processed for own use. Thus, food waste plus paper, packaging remains, plastics, sewage etc. from hospitals, shopping centers or malls, agro-industries, companies and restaurant would be gasified and converted into sufficient volumes of electricity for local use and / or for sales. Obviously, metals and other items that do not gasify ??would be compressed, packed or recycled at the same place or referred to small garbage collectors. In fact, the entire system, including the buildings gasifier operations could be operated by participants in cooperatives. It is also pertinent to remember that these processes do not increase the local demand for water.
So besides the environmentally sound possibility to restore numerous degraded rural areas in Brasil as well as other parts of the world, many buildings may transform into a state of auto-sufficiency, environmentally accurate and sustainable.
So think about these energetic, environmental and developmental opportunities of these new technologies, 100 % originating and patented in Brazil. Thus a major contribution to the development of sustainable energy could be made, all ecologically and social-economically sound.
There is no doubt that in a very near future waste will not represent a problem anymore, but rather a solution, as long as nobody impedes or hinders good private practice.
