Advance energy recovery from source separated food waste

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Canada generates some 170,000 tons of food waste annually, much of which ends up in the linear waste-to-discharge waste treatment strategy, such as landfill or incineration. Annually, about 500,000 tons of municipal solid waste is produced in Edmonton, of which 280,000 tons are food waste of high moisture. Beneficial uses of food waste are often limited due to its mixing with other waste streams (due to mixed waste collection) and the labor-intensive nature for its recovery. Recent regulatory actions in many cities have led to the separation of food waste from other municipal solid wastes, opening up options to develop energy-efficient treatment processes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This two-year project aims to develop novel processes to advance energy recovery from source-separated food waste by incorporating laboratory-proven food waste co-digestion strategies and adding conductive materials to enhance direct interspecies electron transfer (a recently discovered biological metabolic pathway for biomethane production) assisted anaerobic digestion. Novel anaerobic digestion reactor design to improve mass-transfer rates and overall efficiency of food waste digestion will be integrated. New anaerobic digestion reactors and food waste management strategies to be developed by the proposed research can be used to treat food waste generated by other municipalities, especially when considering the source-separated collection of food waste.