Rondônia, a state located in the northern region of Brazil, is one of the most promising places in the country. With the second largest income distribution in the Northern region, the state’s economy is linked to livestock and agriculture (coffee, cocoa, rice, cassava, maize), besides wood, ores and rubber extraction.

The sixth largest producer of beef cattle in Brazil and eighth in terms of national dairy production, the local agricultural sector’s growth has attracted the government, entrepreneurs and investors to the 8th Rondônia International Rural Show, now considered one of the largest in the country; and this year it has reported more than R$ 700 million in closed business deals.

During the event, SGAM Energia, one of the companies participating in the Low Carbon Brazil – a European Union program –, was again invited to talk about how to make farming more sustainable and add value to products. This year, the company specialized in the development of energy efficiency and renewable energies projects held a lecture on biogas and biofertilizer production in the livestock industry; it also took advantage of the event to showcase the project for a future renewable energy generation plant powered by animal and waste effluents.

"For the pilot project, we are working on the confined beef cattle area, but it applies both to dairy cattle, poultry and pigs and to agricultural waste. Rondônia has the potential to fulfill all those cases, because it is a thriving and growing state in these sectors. We want to show farmers how to add value to their main products, which is the fattening of cattle for cold storage companies, in addition to clean energy generation," said Sérgio Novo, an engineer at SGAM Energia.

The project, which is being undertaken with French company Fertigaz, has great know-how on the implementation of biogas plants, which will subsequently allow farmers from the region and from all over the country to adopt the best practices, taking advantage of the whole energy generation chain.

"We used cattle waste through a digester, turning them into electric power and (organic) biofertilizer. In this way, we avoid the black ditches derived from excrements that contaminate groundwater, and we can especially avoid greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere," that engineer emphasized.

SGAM Energia, which had already started to develop in the state initiatives for the use of agricultural waste and residues to generate energy, counts on the support of FAPERON - Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of the State of Rondônia, and also SEAGRI - Secretariat of Agriculture of the State of Rondônia. Now, through Low Carbon Brazil, the company will be able to intensify its actions.

"Low Carbon Brazil is a great initiative for the development of agroindustry and agro-energy. This initiative has come at the right time to broaden our goals in the region. The support from the European Union and Fertigaz will enable the state to develop more efficient farming and local industry," concluded Sergio Novo.

Engineer Sergio Novo, from SGAM Energia, during his lecture

Low Carbon Brazil, through the attendance of its leader Mercedes Blázquez, took part in the 4th edition of Cibio – World Biomass Congress, on June 26, 2019.

To an audience consisting of experts, technicians and biomass and biogas market players, Mercedes Blázquez had the opportunity to present the European program and to show some of the supported projects that are in an advanced stage.

"Events such as this are opportunities to expose what the European Union has been doing in Brazil in the transition towards a low-carbon economy. Some projects have had excellent results during the technical feasibility studies and, with the contribution of green funds, they will be active in the coming years," said Mercedes Blázquez.

Among the companies from the segment attending the Congress was SebigasCótica, which takes part in Low Carbon Brazil with three biogas production projects for the biofuels sector. This year, the company presented a project that is being implemented in the municipality of Guariba, in the hinterland of the State of Sao Paulo, where 3 biodigesters are being developed to produce biogas from vinasse, a by-product of ethanol and sugar cane.

"That plant will generate biogas to generate 17.5 MW of electric power, which will be offered to the A-6 energy auction contract, which Raízen won in 2016. The projects we have developed within the scope of the Low Carbon Brazil program have already gone through the phase of studies with great results and we are already working to make them viable in the near future. We have studied how biogas might replace diesel in production in the sugar and ethanol market, and also in the citrus juice market, in addition to a biogas plant model for the treatment of urban solid waste from small municipalities," commented Bruno Esperança Pereira, responsible for Marketing and Business Development at SebigasCótica.

Check some developments in Cibio 2019 at:

Low Carbon Brazil, an initiative funded by the European Union through its Climate and Growth Directorates-General, aims at bringing together small and medium-sized Brazilian and European companies with innovative technological solutions to reduce climate impacts.

The 90 selected projects, which include the construction of biogas plants with cutting-edge European technology, more efficient solar plants, information technology solutions to fight forest fires, precision farming, aquaculture, waste management, the Internet of Things applied to the wind energy sector, among other major solutions, are moving towards their final phase in the program, and they will soon contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil and to generate jobs.

Check the new video produced by Low Carbon Brazil’s team and learn more about some of the projects supported by the European Union.