Producer uses pig manure to fuel gas tractor – 04/26/2023 – Market

In 2018, rural producer Fábio Pimentel de Barros walked the streets of the Agrishow (International Agricultural Technology Fair in Action), in Ribeirão Preto, looking for a way to use the biogas produced at his company, SF Agropecuária, in Brasilândia ( MS).

The proposal was to give an economic and sustainable destination to the waste of about 80 thousand pigs on the property. After discussing the issue with two companies without success, he found an automaker that was developing the necessary technology. Thus, it became the first buyer in the country of a tractor powered by biomethane.

Manufactured in England by New Holland, which already has ten other proposals underway in the country, the T6 Methane Power model, with 180 hp, uses gas generated from the decomposition of organic waste as fuel.

SF, which in addition to pork has 33,000 cattle and 2,600 hectares of soy and sorghum production on three farms, slaughters around 180,000 animals a year.

The high cost of fossil fuel and the evolution of equipment such as the biogas tractor have encouraged actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the field. The machine costs 40% more than the diesel-powered one, but is paid for with daily savings, according to the producer.

“The idea at the beginning of the project was to have a more sustainable process, and the second point was totally economical”, said Barros. “The third point was the market strategy, since we are going through a war and diesel was imported into Brazil.”

While the company’s existing conventional tractors burn, on average, 18 liters of diesel per hour of work, the model powered 100% by biomethane consumes 10 m³ of gas per hour, at a cost of R$ 1 per cubic meter, according to the producer. rural.

“I have to take into account that the gas is mine, I already produce it. I still have to put the production price of my pump, which is very low. There is a very large economy of diesel and opens up other possibilities, including truck design to biomethane, we cannot just use tractors”, stated Barros.

In addition to price, other advantages are reductions in the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases and lower operating costs, according to Flávio Mazetto, director of product marketing for New Holland for Latin America.

He stated that 99% of particulate matter is eliminated in biomethane, and that the engine powered by gas reduces CO2 emissions by 90% compared to diesel engines sold in the country.

“Biomethane, from a global point of view, is on the agenda for all decarbonization of energy matrices, mainly thermal, which involves fuels. Brazil imports an average of 25% of its domestic consumption of diesel, that is, it is not self-sufficient”, said consultant Antonello Moscatelli, a specialist in biogas and biomethane.

“Reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere by 30% by 2030 is a commitment assumed by Brazil in 2020, at COP-26.”

Having such a tractor, however, is not for all types of producers. In addition to costing more —the price varies by state, but an average of R$1 million, compared to R$700,000 for the conventional model—, the property needs to receive a series of investments to allow for the generation of biomethane.

The cost reaches R$ 2 million, including the installation of biodigesters, a gas pipeline, a system to purify the biogas and a filling station.

SF Agropecuária invested BRL 1.7 million, as it already had the biodigesters, according to Barros, and its ecosystem also involved the companies FPT Industrial (Iveco), Sebigás Cótica and Air Liquide.

There is a six-kilometer underground gas pipeline connecting the farms on the property. Moscatelli claims that, with 5,000 pigs to generate manure, it is possible to invest in a system of this type.

“This investment has a payback [prazo para o lucro cobrir o investimento] quickly, depending on how the producer uses the replacement of diesel with biomethane. From the moment you start using more, you get a faster return, which varies from two to four years”, said Cláudio Calaça, director of Market Brasil at New Holland.

Decarbonization affects other sectors linked to agriculture. After the government raised, in March, the percentage of biodiesel in diesel from 10% to 12%, Abiove (Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries) stated that the measure put Brazil “definitely on the path of world leadership in the decarbonization of the matrix diesel cycle”.

Another initiative of the kind is Renovabio, a program created to increase the share of biofuels in the energy matrix.

The journalist traveled at the invitation of New Holland