A multi-year project in Goleta, California uses anaerobic digestion to sustainably convert source-separated organic food waste from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) into energy.
“There is so much food that never makes it to table and a lot of it goes to waste,” said Jim Dunbar, the General Manager for California Operations of Lystek International Limited, the company in charge of the project. “Some of that food spoilage needs to go to use in a sustainable way. This kind of technology turns food into eco-friendly energy.”
Poultry is one of the top waste food types worldwide. If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the U.S. and China.
The multi-year partnership between Lystek, UCSB, Goleta Sanitary District and the California Energy Commission began in August 2019.
How it works
Anaerobic digestion uses microorganisms to break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process transforms organic waste into renewable natural gas and a liquid containing nutrients that is a good fertilizer.
Because it takes place in an entirely enclosed system that does not require any sort of combustion, anaerobic digestion is safer and more sustainable than current waste processing methods.
“Composting takes week or months to break down organic matter. Anaerobic digestion, which takes place in an environment devoid of air, happens in a much faster, controlled process,” Dunbar explained. “The unique thing about food waste is that it is very high in organic matter that can turn into a very good controllable measurable source of methane gas.”
Anaerobic digestion is a technology applicable to any kind of biowaste, including livestock and poultry manure, municipal wastewater solids and food waste.
“While this project was designed to deal with food waste, the technology is flexible enough to work on any form of organic matter, including poultry and other agricultural litter,” Dunbar added.
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