Diseño y escalamiento de un sistema de recuperación de energía calórica en el proceso de compostaje

Abstract

The present work showed a technical proposal that aimed to design and scale up a system for heat energy recovery in the composting process. The project started with the collection of flower, sawdust and quail manure residues for physicochemical characterization. Once the results and the specific quantities of each residue were obtained, the compost pile was made by placing each of the components in intercalated layers. The process began with the elaboration of the compost pile, which had a composition of 70% flower residue, 15% quail manure and 15% sawdust, with a total organic matter of one ton. The system for heat energy recovery was based on a copper pipe connection and integrating the pipe in the form of a coil in the center of the pile. Daily temperature monitoring was performed using thermocouples. In addition, physicochemical analysis of the samples was performed at each turning of the pile to know how the organic matter decomposition process evolves and to monitor the different factors involved in the composting process. The heat recovered averaged 20 Wh/kg per day, the water passing through the composting pile had a temperature gradient recovery of 5.38°C. Finally, the results obtained comply with the limits established in the European Commission Standard regarding compost quality, which led to the industrial scale-up of the design and the economic viability where a recovery period of 10 years was obtained. It is recommended to classify the organic wastes since there are contaminants that can damage the composting process.