For several groups of Costa Rican ecologists, pineapple plantations are simply disastrous. They claim that this damages the soil, generates plagues of flies and that the neighboring communities cannot consume the water because the agrochemicals end up contaminating the groundwater.
But a group of scientists sought to turn the situation around and is proving they are able to generate electricity from pineapple waste through a process of gasification.
The School of Engineering of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the Engineering Research Institute (INII) and the Central American Network of Engineering Institutions (REDICA) joined forces to work on the project “Gasification from agricultural wastes for energy production.”
After a year of experiments, the first positive results were obtained by the construction of a gasifier financed with a British donation and using waste provided by farm owners, so that they are now in contact with possible donors to continue with the goals set.
Spokesmen of the initiative explain that the team of researchers -led by Dr. Pedro Casanova Treto from the Laboratory of REFORESTA- will continue with the tests of efficiency and caloric power with different mixtures.
This initiative was made possible thanks to funds from the Network for Science and Innovation of the British Embassy in Costa Rica.
Lilliana Arrieta Quesada, coordinator of the Technical Secretariat of REDICA, believes that the initiative can become a good business, regulated by national laws.
This waste was selected,”
she points out,
because communities have repeatedly complained about problems associated with these by-products, such as the pineapple fly, and because poor management can end up polluting soils and water… In addition, we try to obtain different by-products, for example, cosmetics, juices and mash, among others, generating important value chains.”
Costa Rica is the first pineapple exporter in Latin America. The activity generates 35 thousand direct jobs and 46 thousand indirect jobs, according to data from the National Chamber of Producers and Exporters of Pineapple (CANAPEP).
The main export markets are the United States and Europe. But Costa Rica must respond to agreements on clean production starting in 2020, so as not to lose the niches that it has until now. Only in 2016, Costa Rica exported 1 billion dollars in fresh pineapple, dried pineapple and frozen pineapple, according to CANAPEP.
Although there is no exact budget, the two most expensive aspects of the energy production project from the stubble are the construction of the gasifier and the investment needed to connect to the national system.
The project approach responds to UN recommendations on integrating water and energy.
Although President of CANAPEP Abel Cháves is in favor of the initiative, he points out that
carrying out an initiative of this nature involves considering costs and logistics and it will depend, among other aspects, on the transport system, the conditions of the infrastructure of roads or highways and the location of collection centers to deposit stubble.”