Best Practice: Cogeneration in Palm Oil Industry in Honduras

In order to raise awareness of the promising cogeneration technology - also in the context of developing and emerging economies - this "best practice" example shall illustrate possible fields of application. Concretely, this article will give you a brief overview of a project in El Negrito, Honduras, where organic waste gas-fired cogeneration has been successfully integrated in a palm oil factory.  Information provided in this article is based on the Cogeneration & Trigeneration Guide  published by GIZ.

Technical detail of the implementation

HonduPalma, one of the leading palm oil manufacturers in Central America ordered a complete and highly efficient 1.2 MW 2GR biogas CHP cogeneration system. The fully integrated prime mover of the CHP System is a 2GR avusR 1200 with an MWMR core engine and a capacity of 1,200 kW el or 9,960 MWh p.a. electrical power and 1,225 kW th of thermal power. In addition to the CHP cogeneration unit, 2G CENERGY also supplied the complete gas treatment, including cooler, dryer / dehumidification, and the H2S removal system.

Benefits

The biogas energy conversion plant provides electricity to HonduPalma’s factory and oil processing facility, as well as feeding surplus electricity into the utility grid. The thermal energy is fully utilized in the palm oil processing facility.

Key Facts

Gas engine capacity	1,200 kWel 1,225 kWth
Fuel	Biogas
Fuel source	Anaerobic digestion of organic waste
Configuration	container module
Heat utilization	Thermal distribution to oil processing facility
electricity generation p.a.	9,960 MWh/a
Heat generation p.a	10,167 MW/a
Full load hours p.a.	8,300

Further Information

• On the project: 2G Cenergy
• Guide: Cogeneration & Trigeneration - How to produce energy efficiently(GIZ, 2016)