Resumen

In the south of the department of Tolima, the leaf of the cachaco plant is economic sustenance for hundreds of families, who roast the leaf, which is used as a food wrapper in different parts of the Colombian territory. The browning process of the leaf generates residues such as the veins, stems and pseudostems, which are not properly treated, becoming a waste and an environmental problem in the processing places. Through the anaerobic biodegradation of the browning residues of the cachaco leaf, it is sought to determine the energy production by the generation of biogas. This would allow adding value to waste and starting a circular economy approach in the area. The determination of the potential of biogas from this lignocellulosic material would recognize an interesting source of alternative energy that could be used directly in burners for furnaces, stoves, internal combustion engine power or indirectly for the production of electricity, which would greatly benefit the population that depends on this practice. In this work, a descriptive methodology is applied with a deductive and experimental approach, which will be developed in 4 stages 1) Search for information on the physical-chemical composition of the waste from the cachaco leaf and the Musaceae family, 2) Prediction of methane production from lignocellulosic material anaerobically from a statistical model developed by Thomsen et al. (2018), 3) Experimental run of biogas production by co-digestion of cachaco waste and cow manure and 4) Application of a mathematical model of biogas production for the definition of kinetic constants.