Central American farmers use coffee processing wastewater for energy production

The "Energy from Coffee Wastewater" project carried out by UTZ has demonstrated that energy production can be carried out by treating wastewater discharged by coffee factories to help combat climate change and conserve water resources. The project was launched in 2010 with the goal of dealing with environmental and health problems caused by wastewater from the coffee industry.

Customized coffee processing wastewater treatment systems and solid waste treatment mechanisms have been installed and deployed in 8, 10 and 1 coffee farms in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, respectively. The "Energy from Coffee Wastewater" project has had a positive impact on more than 5000 people in these three countries, prompting UTZ to start "replicating" the program in other countries.

Latin America produces about 70% of the world's coffee, and the continent has 31% of the world's freshwater resources. However, coffee production produces a large amount of wastewater, which is usually discharged into rivers without any treatment, affecting aquatic animal and plant communities and downstream areas. In addition, coffee processing wastewater is accompanied by tons of organic waste, which is not small toxic, which can affect the soil and release considerable amounts of greenhouse gases, especially methane. Make an "important contribution" to climate change.

The "Energy from Coffee Wastewater" project has been implemented on a series of farms of different sizes. The project has achieved good results, including preventing deforestation of local trees and improving the indoor environment of families in the area, which have given up firewood to use household gas stoves for cooking. Other achievements of this project include the treatment of basically all the water used for coffee processing, saving more than half of the water during coffee processing to produce large amounts of biogas. and these biogas can help provide electricity for homes and coffee factories to prevent greenhouse gas emissions.

Han De Groot, Executive Director of UTZ (Mutual), said: "Coffee production can be environmentally sustainable only if water is used efficiently and sewage created by wet processing is treated. The local ecosystem does not have the ability to clean up large amounts of contaminated liquid. " "Rural areas and coffee production already depend on an adequate supply of fresh water," he concluded. So if we are going to talk about producing coffee in a sustainable way, coffee processing wastewater must be treated when it is discharged into the environment. "

UTZ is currently introducing this technology to Peru and Brazil. UTZ hopes to get more funding and industry support to "replicate" the above plans in Africa and Asia.