Análise dos resíduos gerados pela bananicultura como possível fonte de geração de energia

Abstract

Banana crop (musa sp.) is responsible for generating large quantities of wastes, namely, leave, pseudostem, stalk, inflorescence and fruit. The wrong destination of those wastes can contribute to environmental and plant health problems. However, the waste generated by banana crop have great potential for use as biomass for different applications: fertilizer, animal feed, cellulosic material supply and power generation; like other crops such as sugar cane, coffee and rice. It is presumed that the recovery and use of agricultural residues may contribute to the development of sustainable technologies, in addition to regional and social development. In this sense, the present study aimed to investigate the energy potential of biomass generated by banana crop wastes. Five types of waste (leaves, pseudostem, stalk, inflorescence and fruit), including a blend of all of them had their behavior assessed during drying and were characterized chemically and thermally. The dry of each biomass was realized using an oven with forced air circulation, at different temperatures of 70, 105 and 120 ° C. The drying was followed by comminution, briquetting and evaluation of chemical (elementary and proximate analysis) and thermal properties (evaluation of higher calorific value and thermogravimetric analysis). From the results of these analyzes, it can be inferred that any residue studied at this work have great potential for power generation. Among them, the inflorescence and the fruit generate greater amounts of energy per unit of volume, mainly due to high fixed carbon, elemental carbon and hydrogen contents. Nevertheless, because of its low amounts of lignin, the fruit does not eliminate the need of binders while briquetted. Finally, the percentage of each residue can be adjusted during the preparation of blends, aiming high energy capacity combined with sustainability.