R. Dominican. The commissioning of the country's first downstream biomass gasification plant that integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI), has been completed after the management and support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and LatAm BioEnergy™, a Dominican renewable energy company.
The use of this gasification system for steam applications means that each year 158,000 gallons of liquefied petroleum gas (LP gas) can be replaced with much cleaner synthesis gas (syngas) from biomass from Agrifeed, S.A.S., a Dominican company dedicated to the production of animal feed.
The UNIDO project supported this effort by providing integrated AI software that can adapt the control variables in real time to optimize the quality of the synthesis gas produced, according to the different types of biomass feedstock: acacia mangium, wood chips and coconut. shells, among others.
This system has the advantage of obtaining greater accuracy when computing and comparing large amounts of variables and data, consequently facilitating the daily operation of the gasification system.
Understanding biomass variability and predicting customer energy demand results in increased productivity and minimizes downtime due to maintenance of electrical and/or thermal applications. Therefore, the barrier of replicability of this technology, especially within small and medium-sized food processing facilities in Latin America and the Caribbean, has been significantly reduced.
This industrial process results in the production of biochar, a marketable by-product characterized by its significant and long-term ability to absorb atmospheric CO2 in terrestrial ecosystems. It also improves soil quality while reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
This project has demonstrated its ability to show strong environmental benefits: replacing LP gas with syngas, producing biochar as a by-product and a combined greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 41,593 tons of CO2e.
UNIDO, LatAm BioEnergy and Agrifeed S.A.S have committed to making this project a learning site for government, educational institutions at different levels, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, so that they can understand the benefits of biomass gasification, particularly in Small Island Developing States that rely heavily on fossil fuel imports.
Source: UNIDO.
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