Estudo de viabilidade técnica, econômica e ambiental preliminar da aplicação da tecnologia de Tratamento Térmico de Resíduos e Materiais Multifásicos-TTRM a resíduos de terra diatomácea de usina genérica de produção de biodiesel.

Abstract

Renewable energy has played an ever increasing role in the global energy matrix. In Brazil, the public administration has shown efforts to increase the share of renewable fuels and the biodiesel production. The Brazilian National Waste Policy has among its goals non-generation, minimization, reuse, recycling and hazard reduction of waste, considering the alternative of landfill disposal only where waste treatment is not viable. However, the final filtering process in biodiesel production can generate a great amount of waste, including diatomaceous earth waste with significant inflammable characteristic. This work conducts a feasibility study of Multiphase Waste and Materials Thermal Treatment technology applied to diatomaceous earth waste generated from a generic biodiesel production plant. The present study has been based on: the results of diatomaceous earth waste thermal treatment tests performed by PETROBRAS and ALBRECHT both on laboratory and pilot scales; Technical and operational assumptions; and economic reference data. Specific scenarios were established to study the applicability and sensitivity analysis where performed for key factors of costs composition. The study concluded that thermal treatment is technically applicable to diatomaceous earth waste. In the economic dimension all indicators were be positive even where variations of 25% were introduced into the main input parameters. In the environmental dimension the Multiphase Waste Thermal Treatment of diatomaceous earth waste proved to be aligned with the Brazilian National Waste Policy, with regard to hazard reduction and minimization of waste generation as well as improving the potential for waste reuse.