Abstract

MARTINEZ SEPULVEDA, José Alejandro  and  MONTOYA GOMEZ, Nancy Johana. Preliminary analysis of the feasibility to obtain bioethanol from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Rev. P+L [online]. 2013, vol.8, n.2, pp.72-84. ISSN 1909-0455.

Introduction. Not conventional use of municipal solid waste, and particularly under the Latin American conditions -where more than 54% of such waste corresponds to waste with an organic origin- is a possibility to add value, generate economic growth and create decent work conditions for the people involved in the informal use of the waste.Therefore, and using the potential options bio technology offers to generate renewable energies, bioethanol production from biological metabolism processes of organic matter by means of fermentation is projected. Objective. To analyze, in a preliminary way, bioethanol production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) in order to supply in an innovative way the demand of such compound as a bio fuel and as an input for industrial processes. Materials and methods. Scale tests were performed in a laboratory, from a synthetic sample based on D.J. Marin et al. (1997).The pH, the ethanol concentration, the glucose and the CDO were monitored, and gases such as CO₂ y CH₄, were measured with sensors adjusted for those purposes. The measurements of the conventional parameters were taken according to the normalized methods of analysis (APHA, 1998), usually used to analyze water.To determine the total suspended solids (TSS) and the volatile suspended solids, the method established by rules 2540 D and 2540 E. was used. Results. After putting the OFMSW in a reactor with agitation and constant re-circulation, a liquid mixture with enough organic matter (16100 mg/L of BOD) to have the anaerobic fermentation was obtained.The analysis of the concentrations reported the growth of the organisms that produce ethanol, and also the production of that ethanol.The performance achieved under ethanol production terms was 0.5 gr ethanol / gr of glucose for the testing time around 35 hours. Conclusion. After putting the OFMSW in a reactor with agitation and constant recirculation, a liquid mixture with enough organic matter content for the anaerobic fermentation was obtained, and this fact addressed a process in which bioethanol production through an anaerobic fermentative way from OFMSW was possible.

Keywords : municipal solid waste (MSW); bioethanol; use; anaerobic fermentation; biofuel.

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