RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Uruguayan Minister of the Environment, Adrián Peña, said that the government is studying the feasibility of a private project to convert waste into an ecological fuel.
Peña explained in an interview with Radio Montecarlo that a private company approached the government a couple of years ago to express its intention to invest between US$150 million and US$200 million to convert 50% of the organic waste of Montevideo and Canelones to produce bio-methanol, an environmentally friendly fuel.
The official said that bio-methanol is a transitional biofuel until new zero-emission engines, such as those powered by green hydrogen, arrive. He added that biofuels would make it possible to meet the emission reduction targets agreed in Paris until these technologies are developed.
Peña said that organic waste is an opportunity to convert it into low-carbon biofuels, especially in Uruguay, where waste still has no other destination, as in Europe and the US, where garbage is converted into electrical energy.
The minister said that this framework had created an interesting business line for Uruguay to convert waste into biofuels.
He added that they have received the feasibility study from the company and will be starting to study in the next few days, together with the government and technicians from Canelones and Montevideo, the feasibility of the project from the technical, engineering, technology, and economic point of view.
The minister said that it could be extended to other types of waste later.