Adaptación de biodigestores tubulares de plástico a climas fríos

Abstract

Farmers in the Andean Plateau strongly demand for household biodigesters due to the lack of clean fuels and agricultural fertilizers, and the abundance of livestock residues. The diffusion of rural biodigesters in cold climate or mountainous rural zones has been traditionally scarce. The unfavorable relationship between low temperatures and the kinetics of biogas production poses a technological barrier to the implementation of low cost biodigesters. Since 2006, the Research Group on Development Cooperation and Human Development (GRECDH) from the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), in collaboration with the Peruvian NGO Institute for an Alternative Agriculture (IAA), investigates on the development of household biodigesters adapted to extreme conditions of the Andean Plateau (3000-4500 m). This article describes the research project and its main findings.