Digestate as Fertilizer

Significance of digestate in developing countries
etc.) should be informed about the product and its advantages
and uses. Some work also needs to be done
by the operators of the biogas plants, who often fail to
recognise the potential market opportunities when upgrading
the digestate (separating, pelletising, packing,
etc.), which improve its marketing possibilities.
Additional information
Since 2015, the Costa Rican Biogas Association has
been representing the sector and generating valuable
information regarding the technology. Likewise, the
Biogas program of ICE promotes and supports biogas
projects in the industry in order to generate energy for
self-consumption. Together, both entities are working to
develop national biogas technology standards.
Facts & figures:
Number of biogas plants: 450
(mostly small to medium-sized)
Total installed capacity: 3.9MW
Estimated current amount of produced
digestate per year: 766,000m 3
Biogas pilot plant at the pineapple plantation in Valle del Tarso
Further Information: Programa Biogás, Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (www.grupoice.com) y Asociación Costarricense de Biogás
www.asobiogas.org
mercialise it. Currently, only one biogas plant upgrades
the digestate by separating the solid and liquid fractions,
whereby the solid fraction is used in an organic
pineapple farm. The pilot biogas plant located in Valle
del Tarso (north of the country) uses pineapple stubble
as feedstock in a 10m 3 digester, which generates approximately
250 litres of digestate per day. The digestate
is being used as organic fertilizer in the pineapple
plantation where the digester is located.
Pineapple plantation
Legal framework
There is to date no specific legislation about digestate
use in Costa Rica; however, there is an executive decree
which regulates the discharge and reuse of effluents depending
on their source. In this sense, for example, effluents
from pig farming activities should not be reused
on the land.
ICE and the Costa Rican Biogas Association are currently
working on regulations for allowing the use of all
effluents from biogas plants as fertilizer after a pasteurisation
process.
Digestate production
According to ICE, some 766,000m 3 /a of digestate is
currently being produced and only about 5% is being
used as fertilizer. In order for this to change, potential
consumers (farmers, construction markets, retailers,
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