4 Big Anaerobic Digestion Myths Busted!
Article
Anaerobic Digestion
Consumers are increasingly holding companies accountable for their environmental impact, so there is increasing pressure across industry to invest in reducing waste and recycling. A shift in corporate culture towards resource efficiency has led to major retail and food companies implementing ambitious renewable energy targets and standards.
On-site Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is one of these initiatives. This involves the treatment of industrial by-products and wastewater to generate on-site power or enriched bio-gas sold to the grid. Anaerobic digestion also produces biosolids or ‘sludge’ which can be sold to seed new anaerobic systems or as agricultural soil conditioner.
Like many innovations, Anaerobic Digestion had previously been the domain of agriculture or large Food & Beverage manufacturing sites, but as tech has advanced, this is no longer the case. We bust the 4 big myths below!
Anaerobic digestion has come a long way in recent years. Gone are the bulky and complex systems of the past. Innovation in design, operations and maintenance has made anaerobic digestion an increasingly simple and cost-effective option for food processing companies to meet rising environmental expectations and cut costs in electricity and wastewater treatment. Plus they can be accommodated on a more compact footprint today.
Historically, the highest growth in Aerobic and Anaerobic digestion had been in the Agricultural sector. This was, in part, due to most renewable energy incentives targeting agricultural projects rather than food processing. In 2019 we campaigned for this to be addressed with incentivisation for the Food and Beverage sector where millions of tonnes of waste was going unused, which could be used to help generate energy for manufacturing processes.
There is a huge opportunity in the Food and Beverage manufacturing sector to produce bioenergy to reduce energy costs and create biosolid sludge products (which have multiple uses as a fuel source and soil conditioner). This would prevent millions of tonnes of waste going to landfill, and millions of litres of wastewater being sent to drain.
Again, this is a myth that has lingered from the past. Modern reactors are much more effectively sealed to contain odours. It’s also worth noting that the processing of waste water generates less odour than agricultural waste, as much of the agricultural waste being processed would be solid waste which is naturally more “fragrant”.
Another mistaken belief is that anaerobic digestion systems are difficult and very costly to operate. In recent years there innovation in design and development means that on-site plants have become more straight-forward to operate and maintain, and, as energy production is more efficient, companies should see a return more quickly.
