Atlas del potencial técnico-energético aprovechable por digestión anaerobia de la biomasa residual pecuaria para los subsectores porcícola y ganadería de leche especializada en el Departamento de Antioquia

Abstract

In Antioquia (Colombia), pig manure and dairy cattle manure anaerobic digestion offers the possibility of obtaining clean and renewable energy, due to biogas and methane production, fuel with extensive termal and energy applications. The use of this residual biomass receives economic, social and environmental value for the solutions it provides, since it uses locally generated manure as a fuel source, reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, replaces fossil fuels, generates mineral fertilizers and stabilizes potentially harmful residues for the environment. This is important because Antioquia is the Colombian Department with the highest number of pigs and dairy cattle, according to information reported in 2018 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In Antioquia, the pigs confined management makes it easy to collect the generated manure, so the pig sector has an usable technical-energy potential of 1.896 TJ/year, which can range between 1.611 and 2.186 TJ/year, with a 95% confidence interval. The livestock manure in Antioquia has a theoretical energy potential of 8.566 TJ/year, but this biomass is dispersed in farms because of the extensive production systems, making it difficult to collect and use manure. On the other hand, the specialized dairy sector during milking cows, enables the collection of 25% of the manure, with an usable technical-energy potential of 187 TJ/year, which can range between 156 and 236 TJ/year, with a 95% confidence interval. In this article, it is decided to estimate the usable technical-energy potential instead the theoretical potential, because the first definition specifies more precisely the energy potential related to that residual biomass actually available for energy recovery.