ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Crop Biology and Sustainability
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1672988
This article is part of the Research TopicCrop Production and Its Relationship with the Production of Vegetable Raw MaterialsView all 5 articles
Agricultural Residual Biomass Energy Potential in Highland Municipalities of the Santurbán Páramo, Colombia
Provisionally accepted
Diana Marcela Ibarra Mojica1
Mabel Lucero Prada Soto2*
Leidy Sofía Monroy Sarmiento2Luis Alejandro Duarte3- 1Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia, Bucaramanga, Colombia
- 2Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Escuela de Ciencias Agrícolas, Pecuarias y del Medio Ambiente, Tunja, Colombia
- 3Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Escuela de Ciencias Agrícolas, Pecuarias y del Medio Ambiente, Bogotá, Colombia
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Colombian high-Andean rural communities face significant limitations in accessing clean thermal energy sources, which perpetuating the use of firewood and fossil fuels with negative consequences for both human health and the environment. In this context, agricultural residual biomass represents a renewable alternative with theoretical potential for decentralized energy generation in mountainous territories. This study assessed the availability and theoretical energy potential (TEP) of agricultural residues generated by dominant crops in three municipalities located within the area of influence of the Santurbán Páramo (Tona, Silos, and Pamplona). A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining secondary data analysis from the Rural Agricultural Planning Information System (SIPRA) with structured surveys conducted with local farmers. TEP was estimated using a technical model that integrates cultivated area, yield, residue factor, dry matter fraction, and lower heating value. Potato and scallion residues were found to be the most significant in terms of volume and energy content. Silos showed the highest TEP (up to 208 TJ/year), followed by Tona, with notably high values in scallion residues. Among the residues, potato leaves and stalks showed the highest energy potential while discarded scallion bulbs stood out within that crop. Variations in TEP across different bibliographic sources highlight the need to standardize technical parameters. Although the identified potential, several technical, organizational, and technological barriers persist. The findings provide a foundation for designing decentralized biomass-to-energy conversion solutions and informing public policy for rural bioenergy planning in high-Andean contexts.
Keywords: decentralized bioenergy, crop residues, Tropical highlands, Rural energy planning, biomass valorization, Thermal efficiency, circular economy in agriculture, territorial energy transition
Received: 25 Jul 2025; Accepted: 17 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ibarra Mojica, Prada Soto, Monroy Sarmiento and Duarte. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mabel Lucero Prada Soto, mabel.prada@unad.edu.co
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