BIOMASS FOR ENERGY IN ECUADOR : AN ASSESSMENT

This paper surveys the country"s existing biomass resources and considers new approaches to its production and use. The Instituto Nacional de Energia (INE) needs to encourage greater wood production (woodlots, multipurpose forests) and improve fuelwood efficiency through the introduction of more efficient wood burning stoves. Although alternative fuel sources are plentiful in Ecuador, their feasibility will depend upon relative costs (monetary, convenience, and effectiveness). Crop residues of bagasse, rice, cocoa hulls, and other residues available at agroindustry plants may be compressed through direct combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, or fermentation and converted into energy. Excess bagasse alone could satisfy the solid fuel needs of about 20,000 people yearly, indicating the importance of investigating this economical alternative. Although the use of crops for energy without reducing food production is possible in Ecuador, it is not economically feasible in the immediate future. Total costs of production, harvesting, processing, and transporting, are higher than the market value of crude biomass as a solid fuel. Other long-term options for the INE are municipal wastes that can be processed into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) or burned to produce steam and electricity for industrial and municipal applications. RDF pellets, a solid fuel, would be half the price of fuelwood and would also be competitive in a gaseous form for oil-fueled boiler systems. Biogas production from animal manure and municipal sewage can be used for fuel in rural homes and small industries. The INE is operating seven demonstration biogas generators in different areas to investigate the reliability and economic feasibility of biogas for rural families. The study recommends that continued surveys be undertaken by INE and A.I.D. on the use of fuel wood substitutes and the probable future of biogas. Nine appendices on contacts, trips, and energy consumption and a list of 25 references (1974-80) are included.