Potential for Biogas Production from Residues of a Slaughter House at High Altitude in Bolivia

Abstract: The potential for biogas production with residues of a slaughter house in the climatic conditions of LaPaz has been determined during the master’s thesis. The project was carried out at a pilot plantconsisting of three tubular biodigesters made of polyethylene. The study showed that there is strong potential for biogas and biofertilizer production from residues ofslaughter houses at high altitude and cold climate in Bolivia, even by using blood which is the majorcomponent responsible of the water contamination. This production led to avoid water contamination,to limit the greenhouse effect by limiting the methane release into the atmosphere due to uncontrolledwaste management, and to improve the agriculture yields through the use of organic fertilizer. After afirst period of investigation, new parameters of operation of the pilot plant were defined in order tooptimize the biogas and biofertilizer production. But the tubular biodigesters made of polyethylenecould difficultly be further developed at industrial scale. Thus the final part of the project consisted in the design of a new type of low-cost pilot plant whichcould solve the environmental burden caused by slaughter houses residues in all Bolivia, whilegenerating more economical benefits from the biogas and biofertilizer production. This pilot plant wasintended to be further scaled-up and developed in all Bolivia if the new investigation carried out afterthe master’s thesis would give satisfactory results. The estimations of industrial plants based on theresults of the pilot plant of Achachicala showed that the slaughter houses could work only by usingbiogas resulting from the anaerobic digestion of their residues, while generating important amounts ofbiofertilizer which would be a source of important economical benefits.