Monar-Villegas et al. (2024)
Abstract
This project aims at perform a technical and economic evaluation of the transformation of biogas
into electrical energy with the purpose of technically taking advantage of the biogas produced in
urban landfills (UL) and biodigesters, to transform it into electrical energy and establish
sovereignty and electrical diversification, and eliminate dependence on fossil fuels in Ecuador.
For this, the design and construction, useful volume of biogas produced each year, useful
electrical power of biogas and economic evaluation of the electrical energy generation projects in
the El Inga and Ceibales UL and the biodigester project located in the Machachi city. The technical
analysis shows that in 2021 the El Inga project reached the maximum annual volume of biogas
with a value of 3,405 m3/h and an annual electrical power of 7,24 MW; while in 2031 the Ceibales
project will reach the maximum annual volume of biogas with 1240,15 m3/h and an annual
electrical power of 2,94 MW; On the other hand, the implementation of the Machachi city project
would have a constant annual volume of biogas of 312 m3/h and an annual electrical power of 1
MW; In turn, the three projects reach an electrical power of 1 MW with annual biogas volume
flows of 547,04 m3/h, 435,81 m3/h and 312 m3/h, with a standard deviation of 117,58 m3/h and
a coefficient of variation of 27%. The economic analysis shows that the projects: El Inga with a
current power (CP) of 5 MW its NPV is 11301391,77 USD being greater than zero and its IRR is
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1% greater than its discount rate (DR) of 8,5%; Ceibales with a CP of 1,8 MW its NPV is
83865,48 USD being greater than zero and its IRR is 10% greater than its DR of 8,6%; and
Machachi with a CP of 1 MW its NPV is 807668 USD being greater than zero and its IRR is 21%
greater than its DR of 10%; they are profitable. It is concluded that, the evaluation of the three
projects offers a technically and economically viable solution in the transformation of biogas into
non-conventional renewable energy; since, by transforming 12,659 million accumulated tons of
urban solid waste, 6581 m3 of bovine, pig and poultry excreta, a power of 7,8 MW is currently
generated with an investment of 15 million USD; which, through the application of article 413 of
the constitution, where the Ecuadorian state is obliged to promote the development of renewable
energies, around 5498 million USD can be invested to obtain an electrical power of 2859 MW,
which corresponds to the generation of electrical energy from non-renewable sources, and thus
solve the deficit of 890 MW to obtain electrical energy sovereignty in Ecuador.
Keywords: Technical evaluation of biogas in energy, economic evaluation of biogas in energy,
methane in energy assessment, biogas from landfills, biogas from biodigestion processes,
ecuadorian energy sovereignty through biogas.
1
. Introducción
habitantes, también ha generado por
relación de proporcionalidad el
aumento del consumo de energía
eléctrica, generando en la actualidad
un déficit de energía eléctrica que
asciende a 890 megavatios hora,
constituyéndose en el 19% de la
demanda eléctrica del país que no
está siendo cubierta (ARCERNNR,
En el Ecuador con la construcción de
los proyectos hidroeléctricos Coca
Codo
Sinclair,
Sopladora,
Manduriacu y Mazar Dudas, se
obtuvo en el año 2016 soberanía en
lo referente a energía eléctrica. Sin
embargo, el constante crecimiento
de la población, hasta el año 2024,
2
024a) (CENACE, 2023).
donde registran
se
aproximadamente 18 millones de
3