In this project, the concept of circular economy is applied, transforming biowaste whose management entails a high economic and environmental impact, generating valuable bioproducts: biofertilizers, bioplastics and biomethane for vehicular use (bio-CNG).
The treatment plant takes advantage of pre-existing infrastructure to become a biofactory. An anaerobic co-digestion process manages sewage sludge with agri-food waste, maximizing biogas production. This biogas was only used in the boilers to heat the digesters. To take advantage of the surplus produced, a biogas to biomethane cleaning and purification system (ABAD Bioenergy®) has been designed and built.
The recovery system consists of innovative processes that have been developed to complete the transformation chain that includes the preconditioning of the biowaste (thermal hydrolysis), its transformation into biomethane and biohydrogen using electrostimulated bioreactors (ELSAR®) and finally the ABAD process. Bioenergy® with a production capacity of 10 Nm3/h of biomethane that consists of a two-stage system composed of four main units: enrichment unit, cleaning or refining unit, compression and storage unit and dispensing unit.
The project demonstrates the concept of circular bioeconomy by putting it into practice at the Guijuelo WWTP with the transformation of the current concept of wastewater treatment plants, converting them into biofactories, where the waste generated at the WWTP and in the agri-food industries is converted into resources: biofuel, bioplastics and biofertilizers.
The reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere is evident by producing biogas through anaerobic codigestion, electrostimulated bioconversion of biowaste into biogas and biohydrogen, which is subsequently enriched to biomethane with the quality required for vehicular use, thus promoting local and sustainable mobility. regional. The use of bio-CNG by the water service vehicles themselves, municipal and industrial vehicles or buses is planned.
Furthermore, the centralized management of biowaste from the region's industries makes it possible to reduce the impact of transporting it to waste management centers such as landfills hundreds of kilometers away, enabling its local recovery in the biofactory.
The Guijuelo biofactory project is a pioneering initiative that can be replicated in a multitude of locations in which the production of bio-CNG from biowaste can become a driver of the bioeconomy. The project has allowed the development from ideation to action of an innovative circular economy model towards the production and use of biogas. This project has been submitted for the innovation award at the #RenewableGas Show.
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