A new project would allow generating electricity from the pineapple's waste and benefiting 1,200 small domestic producers.
The School of Agriculture of the Humid Tropical Region (EARTH), the Ad Astra Rocket Company, and the Central Cellulose Pulps Company are working on a pilot plan. The idea is to take the pineapple's stubble to generate methane gas, which would then be converted into electrical energy.
The aim is to reduce production costs and generate an environmental benefit for pineapple producers.
The project was presented to the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research for funding, said Jose Zaglul, EARTH's dean.
Pineapple producers are large consumers of electricity, because its production is more sophisticated than other crops; it requires machinery to cool water, and then the fruit is sent to packing plants and then to cold rooms.
The investment to process and cool the pineapple is estimated at $70 per container, said Christian Herrera, president of the National Association of Pineapple Producers and Exporters.
"The optimal point would be to industrialize the stubble and the remaining leaves so it can be used in the fields for soil sustainability," he added.
Every harvested hectare of pineapple generates 360 tons of stubble. Currently, the residue is incorporated to the soil after each crop.
Ad Astra already has an electrical generator that uses mixtures of hydrogen and biogas.
"The methane yield of pineapple stubble could be used to power an engine generator that produces electricity. Something similar to the project that we currently have with the EARTH University and Cummins, "said Juan Ignacio del Valle, engineer at Ad Astra Rocket.
Initially, the pineapple producers would consume the energy, but if there is a surplus of energy it could be sold to Costa Rica's Electricity Institute.
The plan is managed by stages. The first stage is to develop an efficient and economical mechanism to gather the stubble, pack it and transport it to the communities near the pineapple producers so they can use it.
In the future, the pineapple stubble could also be used in other processes, such as the production of fibre for clothing and natural waxes for the food and pharmaceutical industry, according to Marcos Esquivel, president of Pulpas de Celulosas de Centroamérica.
Source: La Republica