Construction of a biodigester for the generation of biogas in a cattle farm.

Scenario

The biogas generation project at La Bien Aparecida is an efficient, environmentally and economically sustainable solution for waste management and its transformation into ENERGY and RESOURCES. There is a very wide variety of substrates that can be digested under anaerobic conditions, in the case of La Bien Aparecida, the property regularly disposes of manure produced by more than 1000 milking cows and more than 1000 calves. Together with the manure, other residues are incorporated in a co-digestion process. These residues are of vegetable origin (residues from the transformation of fruit and vegetable products) and animal origin (organic residues from the agri-food industry). 

The cattle manure is combined with vegetable and agri-food waste in a homogenization and mixing tank. This waste mixture is introduced into the anaerobic reactor where, at temperatures between 35 °C and 37 °C and through the action of methane-generating microorganisms, the organic matter is digested and degraded into biogas. 

Biogas is a mixture of mainly carbon dioxide and methane, a highly energetic gas that, once cleaned in a gas treatment system, can be used in energy production units such as boilers (heat), engines or generators (electricity) or adapted to biofuel (LPG). 

At the La Bien Aparecida plant, biogas is burned in boilers to generate the heat required to heat the plant itself in a process of SELF-CONSUMPTION and CIRCULAR ECONOMY. The biogas production at La Bien Aparecida is more than two million cubic meters of biogas per year, which completely covers the energy needs of the plant and the property .

The digested matter, called digestate, is stored in lagooning and can later be used in the production of liquid or dehydrated fertilizers, livestock bedding, etc.

Process diagram