Assessment of potential biogas production from multiple organic wastes in Brazil: Impact on energy generation, use, and emissions abatement

The anaerobic digestion of organic solid waste is one of the mechanisms for sustainable development, which allows for an appropriate disposal of solid waste and the energy exploitation of biogas. Brazil has a significant organic waste production and consequently a great potential for biogas production yet to be exploited. Therefore, this study presents an evaluation of the potential energy and the emissions avoided by the utilization of biogas energy produced from the bio-digestion of seven types of organic wastes. In general, this evaluation was conducted by considering the volume of wastes generated in the country and the average biogas production of each waste. From this study it was discovered that the potential power for 2015 was between 4.5 and 6.9 GW which would have reduced CO2 emissions by 4.93% per year. In addition, over 180,000 buses can be powered using the biogas generated in Brazil. Limitations such as economic feasibility, absence of incentive policy, and the poor development of business models, are factors that prevent the successful implementation of biogas projects.