Chile gas firm to produce biogas from market waste
Chilean natural gas distributor Metrogas is embarking on a project that will turn market waste into fuel ready for sale at gas stations.
According to Chile’s financial newspaper Diario Financiero, Metrogas aims to build a plant in two years that will generate biogas from fruit and vegetable scraps usually abundant in the country’s street markets. The purified biogas will then be sold to taxi and commercial fleets.
The successful experimental phase of the project, which is collaboration with companies Greenwatt and Tricicla and the municipality of Peñalolén, found out that the organic waste from Santiago street markets alone could produce approximately 3.5 million cubic meters (123.6m cubic feet) of biogas per year.
There are 393 street markets in Santiago, which generate around 80,000 tons of organic waste.
The second phase of the project calls for the construction of a pilot plant in 2016 which would require an investment between USD 250,000 to USD 350,000 in order to build an industrial plant.
The project’s final phase, expects Metrogas Innovation Head Danilo Flores, would be co-financed by the government and would involve various stakeholders such as municipalities, universities, and private companies.
