Workshop: Advancing Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater Solids and Food Waste for Energy and Resource Recovery: Science and Solutions Location: Alexandria, VA. Date: June 5, 2017.

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1632734FillmoreWater resource recovery facilities with anaerobic digesters can increase their production of biogas for energy recovery through co-digestion of food waste with wastewater solids. Much of the non-wastewater organic material used in co-digestion is food waste, typically from food industry operations, commercial food waste and post-consumer food waste from institutions or residential sources. The biogas (methane) produced can be used to generate heat, power, and/or electricity. This workshop will provide a significant scientific basis for the development of best practices to ensure the benefits of appropriately designed and implemented renewable energy recovery through co-digestion with minimization of side-effects that can curtail this process as currently practiced. This workshop will also address a Federal goal to promote biogas utilization and expand the biogas industry through renewable feed-stocks such as wastewater solids and food waste. It is estimated that 100 water resource recovery facilities located in the United States currently import organic waste for co-digestion with wastewater solids. As co-digestion is implemented, some municipalities collect empirical data on anaerobic digester performance and operations. The co-digestion of food waste with wastewater residuals using the built infrastructure at water resource recovery facilities, diverts organic wastes from landfills and recovers the energy in food waste in a sustainable manner at a competitive energy cost. However, there are far less data available to predict digester performance with the addition of food wastes than for wastewater solids alone. Understanding the relationships between the science and operational practice is essential to make co-digestion an efficient process to be implemented by utilities so to become a viable option for food waste disposal and promote renewable energy recovery. There is potential to improve the process and practice of anaerobic digestion through science. This workshop will provide a technical, economic and practical framework for co-digestion, and identify current and future research gaps, processes enhancements and control points. The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) proposes to hold a workshop to integrate research findings and advance science on anaerobic digestion and co-digestion with the needs of WRRF AD practitioners. WERF is well positioned to convene this workshop and disseminate the results. With more than 270 members representing much of the sewered population, and 8 years of research on co-digestion, WERF has become the industry leader.