Energetic, environmental and economic potentialities of the anaerobic treatment of rice Straw for the case of the Cuban enterprise “Sur del Jíbaro”

Rice harvesting and production generates a residual biomass that does not possess an environmentally sustainable disposition route; however, it could be an important carbon source for energetic processes. In this paper the energetic potential via cogeneration that can be obtained from the biogas resulting from the anaerobic treatment of the rice-harvesting wastes (rice straw), for the case of the Cuban Agro-industrial Grain Enterprise “Sur del Jíbaro”, is estimated, based on experimental operation variables and production parameters. Through a life cycle analysis of rice production, an assessment of the environmental profile when this treatment alternative is used in the study case is carried out. The results prove that if the rice straw available in the enterprise is anaerobically treated, it can be profitably obtained a potential to generate 10 MW of electrical power and 15 MW of thermal power via biogas, with a positive environmental contribution to the rice production process. This would decrease the total greenhouse gas emissions in Cuba by 0.2% and the equivalent emissions of the Cuban energetic sector by 3.2%.