Oct 24 - UC Davis Unveils 10 ton/day Anaerobic Digester
Today UC Davis unveiled its new Anaerobic Digester system that will convert up to 10 tons/day of foodwaste from San Francisco Bay Area restaurants into methane and hydrogen. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is similar to foodwaste composting, yet it relies on bacteria that thrive in an oxygen-free environment. AD is one of the more promising waste to energy technologies that have emerged in the last few years in continued efforts to divert waste from the landfill and create alternative fuels. Edie Lau of the Sacramento Bee reports:
With the help of billions of hungry bacteria, a University of California, Davis, engineer has cooked up a system to extract energy from table scraps.
At a ceremony today expected to draw hundreds of people, the campus will formally introduce its $1 million "biogas" plant.
The plant can swallow between eight and 10 tons of food waste a day, feeding tanks of microbes that, in turn, excrete hydrogen and methane -- gases that can be burned to generate electricity or fuel vehicles.