Self-generated Energy System for Wastewater Treatment Plant

To start the wastewater are those which are generated by residences, institutions and commercial and industrial premises. These can be treated within the site in which they are generated or they can be collected and taken through a network of pipes and eventually by pumps to a municipal treatment plant.

Wastewater treatment consists of a series of physical, chemical and biological processes that aim to eliminate physical, chemical and biological contaminants present in effluent water for human or industrial use. The objective of the treatment is to produce clean water in the environment and a solid waste suitable for its final disposal.

This is why the equipment used in the wastewater treatment processes does not escape from the maintenance application, since it is equipment that must be in constant operation, parallel to the production process in the case of the industrial level, where environmental and sanitary factors intervene, that is, while the industrial plant is in operation, this process of sanitation of the water does not stop. Therefore, the maintenance avoids the collapse of the treatment process and allows the realization of the other activities of the companies.

On the other hand, self-generating energy systems are intended to provide power to electrical installations independently of the public network or in combination with it. Electric power is generated through the use of an internal combustion engine and its own generator, based on the use of gas generated as effluent in the wastewater treatment process.

Biogas is a gas that is generated in natural media or in specific devices, by the reactions of biodegradation of organic matter, through the action of microorganisms (methanogenic bacteria, etc.), and other factors, in the absence of oxygen (this is , in an anaerobic environment). The resulting product is formed by methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and other gases in smaller proportion.

Although the technological changes of importance in biogas are foreseeable in the coming years (particularly reduction of the initial investment costs and increase of the reliability) it is possible and necessary to define and describe the zones and areas of impact from the social point of view , economic and physical where this technology can be successful (or where the possibility of failure is minimal).

The results of these studies and the prevalence of the areas where the proposed technology is feasible will give a clearer signal to determine the importance of biogas in the country's energy development.