Anaerobic digestion of food waste - Challenges and opportunities

Fuqing Xu; Yangyang Li; Xumeng Ge; Liangcheng Yang; Yebo Li

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.020

Anaerobic digestion of food waste - Challenges and opportunities

Bioresour Technol. 2018 Jan:247:1047-1058. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.020. Epub 2017 Sep 11.

Authors

Fuqing Xu¹, Yangyang Li², Xumeng Ge³, Liangcheng Yang⁴, Yebo Li⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691, USA.
² Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691, USA; College of Resource and Environmental Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
³ Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691, USA; Quasar Energy Group, 8600 E. Pleasant Valley Rd, Independence, OH 44131, USA.
⁴ Department of Health Sciences, Illinois State University, USA.
⁵ Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691, USA; Quasar Energy Group, 8600 E. Pleasant Valley Rd, Independence, OH 44131, USA. Electronic address: yli@quasareg.com.

PMID: 28965912
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.020

Abstract

The disposal of large amounts of food waste has caused significant environmental pollution and financial costs globally. Compared with traditional disposal methods (i.e., landfilling, incineration, and composting), anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising technology for food waste management, but has not yet been fully applied due to a few technical and social challenges. This paper summarizes the quantity, composition, and methane potential of various types of food waste. Recent research on different strategies to enhance AD of food waste, including co-digestion, addition of micronutrients, control of foaming, and process design, is discussed. It is envisaged that AD of food waste could be combined with an existing AD facility or be integrated with the production of value-added products to reduce costs and increase revenue. Further understanding of the fundamental biological and physicochemical processes in AD is required to improve the technology.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Bioenergy; Biofuel; Food supply chain waste; Food waste; Methane.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis*
Digestion
Food*
Methane
Refuse Disposal
Waste Management*

Substances

Methane