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Title:
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Greenhouse gas emissions from the coffee industry in Costa Rica
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Author(s):
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Published by:
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Publication date:
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ECN
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1-4-1998
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ECN report number:
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Document type:
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ECN-C--98-036
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ECN publication
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Number of pages:
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Full text:
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46
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Download PDF
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Abstract:
Within the framework of a Joint implementation project ECN and theUniversity of Heredia, department of chemistry (Laboratorio de Quimica de la
Atmosfera LAQUAT) performed measurements to assess the emission of greenhouse
gasses from the wastewater treatment facilities used by the coffee industry
in Costa Rica. Wastewater from the coffee industry caused severe water
pollution in the rivers of Costa Rica. In order to abate this problem
wastewater treatment is now compulsory. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
levels of the wastewater that is released into the river systems, must be
below 1.5 kg COD per fanega (1 fanega is about 400 kg of coffee berries).
Waste water can be treated using anaerobic lagoons. In these lagoons
microbial activity will degrade the organic material and methane and carbon
dioxide will be formed. These gasses escape to the atmosphere and contribute
to the greenhouse effect. Within the joint implementation program, the Dutch
government provided the extra money to install anaerobic reactor systems that
replace the lagoons. In the reactor the methane that is formed is trapped and
used for heating. The net effect is that methane emissions are converted to
carbon dioxide emissions. This has a positive impact on the net emission
levels since 1 kg of methane as effective as 21 kg of carbon dioxide in the
greenhouse forcing. In order to estimate the real emission reduction obtained
by the joint implementation program, measurements were carried out at a
lagoon in San Isidro at the beneficio EI General, which is operated by Volcafe
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