Uses of Small Scale Anaerobic Digesters

The use of anaerobic digesters on a small scale could provide localized energy sources. while reducing the negative effects of greenhouse gases. While many technologies appear to answer some of these requirements, anaerobic digestion is an especially promising technology as it is efficient, inexpensive and can be quickly scaled and implemented.

In engineered anaerobic digesters, the digestion of organic waste takes place in a special reactor, or enclosed chamber, where critical environmental conditions such as moisture content, temperature and pH levels can be controlled to maximize gas generation and waste decomposition rates. Commercial anaerobic digestion systems can replicate this natural process in an engineered reactor that produces methane gas much more quickly, in as little as two to three weeks compared to the 30 to 100 years required by the anaerobic conditions in a landfill.

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Anaerobic Digestion Plant Using Food Waste

A New electricity plant could be built in Doncaster to be powered by methane gas created from hundreds of tons of food waste which would be delivered every week.If built, it would take 45,000 tons of food waste every year, some from its own pet food production on site. Other waste would be collected from supermarkets and other outlets in the area.

That would be digested by micro-organisms in sealed chambers to produce methane gas which would in turn be burned to drive turbines to create electricity either for use on site or to be fed into the national grid.The Anaerobic digestion vessel would be 35 metres long, by 10 metres high, and a new steel framed building would also be needed for preparing the waste to be processed and the engines to burn the methane.

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