Working with colleagues from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, a team of MSU scientists is helping to develop a new method of using what is called a continuous stirred reactor tank (CSRT), a unit that takes animal, agriculture and other waste products and turns them into clean, efficient energy.
And while CSRTs are not new, adding a solar-power dimension to it is definitely new.
“There is plenty of sunshine in Costa Rica,” said Ajit Srivastava, an MSU faculty member who is heading up MSU’s role in the project. The project is based on a simple variable—heat. What if you take a solar collector and use heat to increase the temperature in the tank? It can produce a lot more gas faster. Instead of three or four weeks, the same amount of gas can be produced in two weeks.”
“In addition to the efficiency, this design is expected to increase electricity output by 20 to 25 percent,” he said. “It will be like a race car—a vehicle with a smaller, custom built engine that is able to operate at a higher speed.”
The concept is quite simple, Srivastava said. The waste produces methane gas. The gas is stored in a tank and used to generate electricity and heat.
In Costa Rica most of the agricultural operations are small scale and the current technology for turning waste into energy is not economical for them, explains Wei Liao, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and project leader. “This project is about combining the different technologies into a single system to maximize energy production in a cost effective way for small farm operations,” he said.
The work is being funded by a grant of $1 million from the U.S. Department of State’s Division of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Partners include the University of Costa Rica, Panama’s Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí and the National University of Nicaragua.
The MSU proposal, titled Improving Access to Clean Energy in Rural Central America Using On-site Solar- Biopower Generation, is an initiative proposed under the U.S. Administration’s Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. In 2011, the State Department turned to private and public organizations and asked for proposals that would address issues in energy efficiency, renewable energy, cleaner fossil fuels, infrastructure, energy poverty, sustainable forest and land use and adaptation within the Americas. The MSU project fits the initiative to expand the production and use of renewable biomass and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
“Initially it will be a unit, powering perhaps 10 households or a community building,” said Srivastava, who also is the chairperson of MSU’s Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. “But over time it could be scaled up.”
That is where MSU’s strengths come in.
“We don’t stop in the laboratory—we take our work out into the field so we can learn from it,” said Srivastava.
The next step is commercialization. “We are developing a business plan to support the sustainability of the project. People need to know about it and understand it. We need to ensure there is a qualified workforce to maintain the system and make it work.”
Srivastava said for this to make an impact on the society it needs to be part of the society—not in a lab somewhere as a prototype.
In addition to creating energy, increased use of these energy-producing units helps in the elimination of agricultural wastes. Another plus: The remnants of the digestion process can be used for composting or as fertilizer.
AgBioResearch scientist Dawn Reinhold is working with the team to reduce any associated agricultural pollution.
“I focus mostly on the liquid residuals, which will be used for irrigation in the dry lands or discharged into rivers and streams in the rainforest,” said Reinhold.
The team’s design calls for the construction of wetlands to clean the water prior to being discharged into the rainforest ecosystems.
“With this project, we’re using an anaerobic digester and following it with a filter system of a wetland with the belief that we can produce not only energy with digester but also clean water,” said Reinhold, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.
Another plus of the project is the economic opportunities it offers.
“What we’re striving for are economical, environmentally friendly, and more sustainable ways to address some of the pollution issues associated with animal agriculture,” said Reinhold.
The system is designed to be small and flexible, one that can be easily taken apart and moved and then reassembled, features that are particularly useful in small and mid-size rural communities in Central America.
Srivastava said a critical part of the project is developing business plans for local companies that want to invest in it.
“We believe there is an opportunity for local companies to build and sell units that are part of this system,” he said. “For example, if you have a company that makes solar panels, here is a market for you.”
A short seven months after the project is launched, the team will be ready to demo a pilot system in Costa Rica.
“We expect the demo of the pilot system to draw nearly 100 people from throughout Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua to the test site,” said Srivastava. There is tremendous interest in environmentally responsible ways to supply electricity, where there is energy poverty.
“We know having access to electricity is going to have a very positive impact on daily life,” he said.
This article was originally posted in Michigan State University news section, to see original publication, click here.
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