Hello all,
Currently, in North America there are only a handful of food waste digester projects (planned and existing). The city of Toronto has two stand-alone food waste digesters processing food waste from the residential sector. One of them (the Newmarket plant) has been shut down and re-opened at least once due to odor problems. I am not sure if it is currently operating or not. The Dufferin Organics processing facility (also in Toronto, Canada) has been the only stand-alone digester continuously operating in North America to date. They are currently planning to build a second digester facility and expand their operations. In the US, the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland, CA has been co-digesting commercial food waste with sewage sludge for the last 5 years or so. They are still in the pilot phase of this project (+/- 40 tpd) and are working diligently on pre-processing treatment trains appropriate for municipal food waste. In Davis, CA there is the pilot high-rate two stage digester system - I believe someone else sent an article about this. They have not yet run it continuously, but are working to get a commercial system installed to prove the technology. The Inland Empire Utilities Agency has been co-digesting manure with food waste and fats, oils, and grease for awhile now. They are now re-commissioning a waste water treatment digester to digest food waste. Cedar Grove composting in Washington is also installing a food waste digester - they have permitting completed and have selected a technology through the RFP process. They expect to break ground on the project in the near future. There is also a project in southern Oregon - I just caught wind of this one - I believe it is in Corvallis, OR. I think they have permitting and a technology selected as well. There are a few other projects in the early planning phases, as well as projects that handle homogenous industrial food waste streams (i.e., onions or brewery wastes) if you are interested to know more, send me an e-mail. And last, but certainly not least, Humboldt County is working to develop a regional food waste digester facility. This facility is being developed by the Humboldt Waste Management Authority - a joint powers authority that manages the solid waste for the county. I am the project manager for this effort. Currently, we are about to release our CEQA permitting documents and hope to have our permits in place early next year so that we can go to an RFP. We have financing plans, a site, and groundswell of support from the community. We plan to accept commercial and industrial food wastes in the first phase of development. Again, if you wish to know more, please contact me directly. As for the heart of your question about construction methods and contractors/engineers used, you might try to contact the Dufferin plant or the Davis/On site Power group - although this information will not likely transfer to other sites. The gist of the situation is that there are MANY digester technology vendors who want to get their toes into the US market. They are willing to design/build/own & operate or any variation of that arrangement. Construction methods will depend on the system chosen (i.e. dry digesters are very different from wet, also different form a high solids systems etc.), as well as the facility site, and the application. In our case, local engineers will likely be utilized for the site preparation, electrical connections, and pipe fitting etc. The construction of the digester system itself will probably be handled by contractors chosen by the technology vendor. Municipal food waste digestion is spreading like wildfire here in the US, and it is only a matter of the early adopters getting systems off the ground and providing cost and operating data for the technology to take off. There are carbon offset protocols in place, and in CA the state waste management agency (CalRecycle) is developing a programmatic EIR to assist in the development of increased food waste digester capacity. There is a lot more to tell, so if you would like to follow up, please feel free to contact me directly. I am happy to talk with you about the project proposed for your area, as well as discuss some of the current technological and political discourse surrounding this type of development. Sincerely, Juliette Juliette Bohn Program Analyst Energy and Waste Management Humboldt Waste Management Authority 1059 W. Hawthorne St. Eureka CA, 95501 (707) 268-8680 From: digestion-boun...@lists.bioenergylists.org [mailto:digestion-boun...@lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of evans martin Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 11:26 AM To: digestion@lists.bioenergylists.org Subject: [Digestion] USA Industrial Food Derived BioGas Plants? Hello, I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me if there are any committed plans to build food derived industrial biogas plants in the US? It is my understanding that there is not much experience with this sort of endeavor in North America and zero precedents for America. I am looking for case studies of city-scale industrial biogas plants as there are developers in my area who wish to build this kind of project and I would like to assist in this effort but am having difficulty in locating credible North American case studies. Projects do not have to be completed and any information would be helpful, but I am looking for data that refers to construction methods and contractors/engineers used. Thank you for your time and consideration. Evans
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