Technology Description

This project will demonstrate and validate the ability to digest wastes common to DoD installations, including pre- and post-consumer food waste, waste cooking oil, and grease trap waste. Further, it will demonstrate the ability to digest these wastes in a controlled and predictable manner in order to maximize the generation of biogas, a methane-rich high-energy byproduct. The waste stream will be mixed and ground to make it suitable for biological digestion in which biodegradable organics undergo biohydrolysis, the fermentation of complex organics to hydrogen and volatile fatty acids (VFA) and subsequent conversion of these simpler compounds to methane by methanogenic microorganisms. Digester feedstocks and operating conditions including detention time and loading rates will be varied to determine ideal operating conditions. The digesters will be operated at thermophilic temperatures to increase biological kinetics and maximize solids destruction and biogas generation. The biogas generated will be treated via scrubbers, chillers, filters, and adsorption to remove the non-methane portion of the biogas (i.e., moisture, particulates, hydrogen sulfide, siloxanes, and carbon dioxide). The treated product gas will be equivalent to natural gas and suitable for numerous end-use applications.