Advance energy recovery from source separated food waste

加拿大每年产生约17万吨食物垃圾，其中大部分最终进入线性废物-排放废物处理战略，如填埋或焚烧。埃德蒙顿每年产生约50万吨城市固体废物，其中28万吨是高水分的食物垃圾。食物垃圾的有益利用往往受到限制，因为它与其他废物流混合在一起(由于混合废物收集)，以及回收的劳动密集型性质。许多城市最近的监管行动导致了食物垃圾与其他城市固体废物的分离，为开发节能处理工艺和减少温室气体排放开辟了选择。 这个为期两年的项目旨在开发新的工艺，通过纳入实验室证明的食物垃圾共消化策略，并添加导电材料来增强物种间的直接电子转移(最近发现的生物代谢途径，用于生物甲烷生产)辅助厌氧消化，从而促进从源头分离的食物垃圾中回收能量。新型厌氧消化反应器的设计，将提高食物垃圾消化的传质速率和整体效率。拟议的研究将开发新的厌氧消化反应器和食物垃圾管理战略，可用于处理其他市政当局产生的食物垃圾，特别是在考虑对食物垃圾进行源头分离收集时。

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.