Recovery and re-use of energy, water and nutrients from waste in the food chain (Redivivus)

本项目将研究重新定义典型食品和农业废物AD工厂的作用的雄心勃勃的任务。我们将考虑将AD工厂作为能源，营养和水循环设施，而不仅仅是生产沼气用于热量和能源，并将其用于土壤修复。将制定一种节能办法，以展示一系列综合技术解决方案，这些解决方案具有重大的短期经济和长期社会及环境影响，最终有助于实现政府的温室气体减排目标和《欧洲垃圾填埋指令》规定的义务。英国拥有非常成功的农业，食品和饮料供应链是我们最大的制造业，占GDP的7%，雇用370万人。食品和饮料占英国购买支出的20%，也是我们最大的消费支出类别。英国的食品进口量约占食品消费总量的40%（而且还在上升），因此英国的食品生产无法自给自足。在英国，几乎一半的蔬菜和很大一部分水果来自国外。当与本土农产品结合在一起时，从不同的食物链角度考虑，英国浪费了大量的食物。一些估计表明，在英国种植和进口的所有食物中，有30-50%注定会成为食物浪费。英国的食物浪费是环境、经济和社会关注的主题，得到了媒体的广泛报道，并得到了政府的一系列重要回应。已经制定了各种目标，包括通过将厌氧消化（AD）工厂从2013年的134个工厂增加到2020年的1，000个工厂来回收食物垃圾的雄心勃勃的目标。与此同时，据估计，从2010年到2020年，沼气（欧盟27国）的一次能源产量将增加382%。（a）将沼气中的二氧化碳与甲烷分离，以提供更高热值的热能和电力，直接将天然气注入电网，并作为液化天然气农用车辆燃料。(b)在甲烷加热的温室中重新使用分离出的二氧化碳，以促进作物生长，为反倾销经营者/畜牧业者提供经济作物，并减少粮食进口（反倾销工厂曾经司空见惯）。(c)凝结和再利用的营养物质（磷，氮，矿物质），以循环淡水，并提供肥料的耕地土壤和温室种植（水培）作物。(d)使用作物生物炭作为循环养分（磷、氮、矿物质）的载体，将大气中的碳转移到可耕地/园艺土壤中的有用碳沉积物中，从而使其脱离短期碳循环，进入长期的非大气碳库。(e)模拟替代方法，以最有效地回收和再利用AD产生的能源和资源，同时考虑到社会，经济和环境因素以及与国家能源供应系统的相互作用。(f)了解Redivivus倡导的能源和资源回收新战略的经济和社会影响。因此，该项目代表了在欧洲不断扩大的AD市场进行创新的机会。支持这一概念变化所需的研究需要一种基础广泛、解决问题和多学科的方法，考虑社会和技术变革。通过利用食物垃圾中的能量、营养和水来种植作物并减少国内的粮食进口，该项目具有附加值，因为它将有助于结束导致全球数百万人挨饿和贫困的全球粮食危机。

SummaryThis project will study the ambitious task of redefining the role of a typical food and farm waste AD plant. Instead of just the production of biogas for heat and energy, and digestate for soil remediation, we will consider an AD plant as an energy, nutrient and water recycling facility. An approach to energy conservation will be developed in order to demonstrate a series of integrated technical solutions that have significant short-term economic and longer-term societal and environmental impacts, ultimately contributing to the Government's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and obligations under the European Landfill Directive. The UK has a highly successful agricultural industry and the food and drink supply chain is our largest manufacturing sector accounting for 7% of GDP and employing 3.7 million people. At 20% of UK purchase expenditure, food and drink is also our biggest consumer spending category. With imports of around 40% of the total food consumed (and rising) Britain is not self-sufficient in food production. Almost half of the vegetables and a significant proportion of the fruit eaten in the UK come from abroad. When combined together with home grown produce, and considered from a different food chain perspective, the UK wastes substantial quantities of food. Some estimates suggest that somewhere between 30-50% of all food grown and imported to the UK is destined to become food-waste. Food waste in the UK is the subject of environmental, economic and social concerns that has received widespread media coverage and met with a range of significant responses from the Government. Various objectives have been set, including the ambitious target of recycling food waste by increasing anaerobic digestion (AD) plants from 134 plants in 2013 to 1,000 plants by 2020. Simultaneously, it is estimated that primary energy production from biogas (in the EU-27) will increase by 382% between 2010 and 2020. Technologies will be investigated that could enable the following: (a) Separation of CO2 from CH4 in biogas for higher calorific value heat and power, direct gas-to-grid injection and as a liquid gas farm vehicle fuel.(b) Re-use of separated CO2 in CH4 heated greenhouses for enhanced crop growth, providing a cash-crop for AD operators/livestock farmers and (once commonplace for AD plants) reducing food imports.(c) Coagulation and re-use of nutrients (P, N, minerals) in digestate in order to recycle fresh water and provide fertilizer for arable soils and greenhouse grown (hydroponics) crops.(d) Use of crop bio-char as a carrier for recycled nutrients (P, N, minerals), transferring carbon from the atmosphere into useful carbon deposits in arable/horticultural soils, thereby taking it out of the short-term carbon cycle and into longer term non-atmospheric carbon pools. (e) Modelling alternative approaches for the most effective recovery and re-use of energy and resources generated by AD taking into consideration societal, economic, and environmental factors and interactions with the national energy supply system. (f) Understanding the economics and societal impact of the novel strategies advocated by Redivivus for energy and resource recovery.The project therefore represents an opportunity to innovate an expanding AD market within Europe. The research required to support this change in concept needs a broad based, problem solving and multidisciplinary approach that considers societal as well as technological change. By using energy, nutrients and water from food waste to grow crops and reduce food imports at home, this project has added value in that it will contribute to ending the global food crisis that leaves millions worldwide starving and impoverished.