Geração de créditos de carbono em estações de tratamento de esgoto no estado de Sergipe

Abstract

In recent years, concern about climate change has intensified around the world, as the continuous release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causes enormous socioenvironmental impacts. Therefore, the Kyoto Protocol was created, an international agreement in which industrialized countries pledged to reduce their GHG emissions. Beyond That, within the Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was designed to help developing countries reduce their emissions, while facilitating developed countries to meet their target through the acquisition of carbon credits. In this scenario, sewage treatment stations contribute significantly to the emission of GHGs, as the process of decomposition of organic matter in anaerobic treatments emits large amounts of methane gas, which has a global warming potential 21 times greater than carbon gas. The objective of the present work is to find the GHG emissions in six sewage treatment stations in the Brazilian Sergipe State, as well as the biogas formed, through the ProBio 1.0 software, and estimate the carbon credits that can be generated with the introduction of flare burners, the energy use of biogas to generate electricity and its efficiency in replacing fuels such as gasoline and ethanol. The results found indicate that the introduction of flare burners in STS's can reduce a large part of emissions and provide a greater return in carbon credits. Likewise, the energy use of biogas to generate electricity for the grid, in addition to bringing a good return with the sale of carbon credits, also helps in energy savings. On the other hand, using biogas to replace fuels such as gasoline and ethanol does not generate such significant carbon credits, however, all the proposed solutions bring great environmental gains.