Evaluación energética de cáscaras de cacao nacional y CCN-51

Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the fuel characteristics of the residual biomass from two varieties of cocoa shell (BRAC) in Ecuador: the domestic (national) variety and the Naranjal variety (also known as CCN-51). The study included immediate analysis and elemental analysis of BRAC. These results were used to estimate the energy potential in this biomass residue. It was estimated that there exist approximately 144.320 t/year of BRAC. This result and the low heating value of BRAC were used to estimate the energy potential, which is close to 42.688 toe/year (tons of oil equivalent per year). This energy potential would allow generating 215.477 MJ of energy. The BRAC can be used to fuel boilers (in Rankine cycle schemes) for producing electricity, in which up to 140.060 MJ could be generated. This amount of energy could allow operating a thermal plant with capacity of 40 MW. However, biomass dispersion is a limitation to erect one thermal plant only. Thus, three thermal plants of 15 MW each, located in Esmeralds, Manabi, and Guayas, are proposed. Economic analysis showed that it seems viable generating electricity from BRAC. The amount of energy that could be produced is approximately 1,21% of the electricity produced in Ecuador. Using BRAC in these conditions could allow a reduction of 189,723 t/year of CO2.