At last the world's press seems to be starting to understand the very positive message about Anaerobic Digestion biology and benefits, that we recognised on this blog some time ago. In fact, we have been talking about the many biogas benefits here for the last 10 years of this blog. it is rewarding that at last our voice, and the voice of many others, is being heard.
There have been a number of recent articles published showing a greater appreciation of anaerobic digestion is becoming apparent, especially in the US, where they lag behind much of the rest of the world..
In the following paragraphs we talk about the general environmental benefits first, and after that explain the benefits of anaerobic digestion in reducing the waste which would otherwise be sent to landfills.
Finally, the last section of this article explains how anaerobic digestion crops bring added value to a farm's crop rotation sequence.
Anaerobic Digestion Provides Environmental Benefits
The concept of anaerobic digestion is capturing the attention of more and more recycling companies as the industry learns about the inherent benefits that anaerobic digestion offers the environment, while providing another revenue generating option within the recycling industry.
The Anaerobic Digestion Biology at Its Core
Anaerobic digestion is a process carried out by a consortium of diverse microbial organisms including hydrolytic, fermentative and methane-forming bacteria. In the absence of molecular oxygen, the synergistic action of these organisms transforms biodegradable organics into a methane-rich gas and a stable fertile residue.
On the anaerobic digestion biology and benefits, according to Dr. Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Ph.D., professor and graduate coordinator of environmental engineering at Connecticut’s University of New Haven, anaerobic digestion systems, at a minimum, include:
"an air-tight vessel that sustains a favorable environment for biological activity upon organic feedstock."
“Reactor performance can be enhanced by integrating provisions for mixing, heating, pH, and temperature control,”
Koutsospyros said.
“Engineered systems also include a variety of pre- and post-treatment subsystems.”
These subsystems with the anaerobic digestion biology and benefits, may include organic "feedstock-pretreatment"; a gas collection/purification system to improve energy recovery and marketability; and digested material withdrawal/treatment to enhance the potential for beneficial applications. via americanrecycler.com
The process avoids the need for landfilling the organic waste which it processes thereby preventing the inevitable escape of much of the methane which is highly damaging when the same organic material is placed in landfills.
It "treats" the organic feedstock to make if less hazardous when deposited as fertiliser on land, and provides a very useful crop fertiliser.
Not least among the anaerobic digestion biology and benefits - it also produces renewable energy.
Anaerobic Digestion Key in Waste Reduction
Embracing anaerobic digestion along with other environmental goals (such as clean water and renewable fuel production) can help a broad swath of people, from farmers to governments, according to Smithsonian.
Synergistic Approach
A group of researchers from EcoEngineers and Goss & Associates decided to quantify the benefits associated with
“a synergistic approach to both producing high-quality biogas from municipal, industrial and agricultural waste and using marginal land to grow an energy crop such as miscanthus,”
a bamboo-like plant that can be treated anaerobically to produce biofuel.
They concluded that a $17.6 million investment in an anaerobic digestion facility that can accept and process both municipal and industrial waste can, over a 20-year period, return roughly $158 million in benefits.
With an $8 million investment in technology to process agricultural wastes, roughly $70 million in benefits could be accrued in a 20-year span.
Anaerobic digestion, they conclude, can
- “solve multiple problems in one investment.”
RWL Water via Anaerobic Digestion Key in Waste Reduction | RWL Water
Finally, we learn the anaerobic digestion biology and benefits when crops bring added value to a farm's rotation. As in the in the next paragraph:
Anaerobic Digestion Crops Bring Added Value to Farm's Rotation
Expanding the rotation to grow maize, rye and sugar beet for anaerobic digestion has brought greater profitability and fertiliser cost savings to an East Anglian family farm.
Anaerobic digestion has enjoyed a surge in popularity, with the crops grown specifically for bioenergy in the UK increasing more than threefold over the period 2008-2015 to 93,000ha.
One grower playing a part of this upward trend is Ian Hall, who farms with his family just outside the Suffolk market town of Beccles. - via Anaerobic digestion crops bring added value to farm's rotation - Farmers Weekly
Why Anaerobic Digestion Is Becoming the Next Big Renewable Energy Source
A food-to-electricity plant in England is just one in a string of local efforts to make waste less wasteful
By Nathan Hurst, SMITHSONIAN.COM
When Resourceful Earth Limited announced it [clearly understood the anaerobic digestion biology and benefits and ] would be building a facility to convert 35,000 tons of the local food waste to power each year—enough to provide 80 percent of the energy to the nearby town of Keynsham, U.K—the company became the latest to employ anaerobic digestion to reduce waste, generate energy and cut down on carbon emissions.
It is localism taken to its conclusion, not just what a community buys, but what it gets rid of, too.
“That’s our ideal plan, to make … a system where we’re actually a closed loop,” says Jo Downes, brand manager for Resourceful Earth. “It’s all self contained. Food waste is produced by a community, it’s converted to electricity, and it goes back to that community again. It’s self-sustaining.”
Anaerobic digestion, as a way of converting biomass to energy, has been practiced for hundreds of years, but the effort in Keynsham is one indicator of the technology’s maturation.
As focus around the world has turned to renewable energy, anaerobic digestion has started to become an economically viable energy source that capitalizes on humans at our most wasteful, and most creative.
Local municipalities, including wastewater facilities, as well as private companies and even the Department of Energy are fine-tuning the tech to make it more efficient and practical and enhance the anaerobic digestion biology and benefits:.
“Anaerobic digestion is fascinating because it’s a relatively easy, natural way of turning a broad variety of complex waste into a simple fuel gas,”
Of the anaerobic digestion biology and benefits, says David Babson, a technology manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office:
“Closing waste loops and recovering energy from waste presents a profound opportunity to simultaneously improve waste management and address climate change". Read more: vai Smithsonianmag
Our faith in the multitude of benefits from anaerobic digestion and biogas production is also reinforced by reasons explained our recent report:
IPPTS Associates Releases Free Biogas Report: UK Anaerobic Digestion Market 2017
Our free report aims to provide the reader with information on the developments driving the UK anaerobic digestion and biogas plant market at the start of 2017, and the likely barriers to growth in the industry throughout 2017, it gives valuable information to the reader.
This is information that will ultimately benefit them by helping them make well-judged investment decisions in 2017, to maximise their ROI and minimise risk.
Download and read our anaerobic digestion biology and benefits report now, before we remove it and start making a charge.
