New Technique Could Accelerate Waste-to-Methane Production

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

In a recent study, environmental engineering master's student Bappi Chowdhury and his colleagues found that adding conductive materials to the waste products could potentially turn them into a reliable feedstock, allowing for a production rate of up to 70 percent more biomethane-a renewable energy source-from a mixture of fat, oil and grease and ordinary food waste in an anaerobic digester.

Energy-rich, fat-filled wastes are extremely slow to break down, forming barriers that stymie microbial digestion or floating to the surface at waste treatment facilities, which collect biomethane in the process. Despite their high energy potential-fats are composed of longer carbon chains that naturally degrade into natural gas-these substances often wind up in landfills, where they slowly degrade and are released into the atmosphere, a particular problem because methane is roughly 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas.

The findings could have implications for municipalities struggling with clogged sewer lines, industrial agricultural facilities dealing with animal waste or governments hoping to reduce climate impacts.

"It could solve a lot of problems," said Chowdhury, who was the lead author of the study. "It's sustainable, renewable energy, because as long as there are people, there will be food waste."

Conductive materials have long been used in waste and wastewater treatment, but only in the past decade have they been used to stimulate biomethane production.

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