Theoretical Estimation of the Potential for the Production of
Methane Gas in the Controlled Dump of K'ara K'ara in Cochabamba, Bolivia
Oscar Angel Nogales Escalera
Independent
Consultant, Bolivia
Abstract: Throughout the entire
project, it was confirmed that the percentage of solid waste generated by the
big cities is higher than that of organic waste. This event is literally common
all around the countries of Latin America, especially in Bolivia. During the
process of waste recollection, both kinds are taken to disposable sites, known
as “Final Disposable Sites”, or “Controlled Waste Sites”. It was detected that
during all the dumping process of organic matter, biochemical decomposition is
permanently being generated; this procedure is acknowledged as anaerobic
process generating biogases like Methane (CH4). Although this biogas is one of
the main causes of Global Warming on Earth, it has been detected that it may be
useful since it can be considered as an alternate resource for renewable
energy. The following research and duly studies presented here will be
implemented on the Controlled Waste Site K’ara K’ara in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
The determination of this study is to give estimates of the theoretical potential
of the volume of Methane gas that was generated in the last thirty months (from
September, 2014 to February 2017). In order to obtain such estimate, the First
Order of the Mathematic Model Degradation from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC, acronym) was applied. Also, the characteristics and
percentages of organic matter buried in Botadero K’ara K’ara were taken into
account. This data gave an estimate of the volume of how much Methane gas is
generated; the result was 66.96 m3 per ton of solid waste. Moreover,
it was also estimated that its yearly emission is about 2.075 m3,
equivalent to 43.575 m3 of CO2, an advantage, as long as
it is considered, that it is twice as more favorable to global warming. This
work was presented at the XXXVI Congress of Sanitary and Environmental
Engineering of AIDIS in 2018 in Guayaquil (Ecuador).
Key words: solid
waste, controlled dump, biogas generation, climate change, methane
