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Full scale co-digestion of wastewater sludge and food waste: Bottlenecks and possibilities

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  • Nghiem, Long D.
  • Koch, Konrad
  • Bolzonella, David
  • Drewes, Jörg E.

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants in many countries use anaerobic digesters for biosolids management and biogas generation. Opportunities exist to utilise the spare capacity of these digesters to co-digest food waste and sludge for energy recovery and a range of other economic and environmental benefits. This paper provides a critical perspective for full-scale implementation of co-digestion of food waste and wastewater sludge. Data compiled from full-scale facilities and the peer-reviewed literature revealed several key bottlenecks hindering full-scale implementation of co-digestion. Indeed, co-digestion applications remain concentrated mostly in countries or regions with favourable energy and waste management policies. Not all environmental benefits from waste diversion and resource recovery can be readily monetarised into revenue to support co-digestion projects. Our field surveys also revealed the important issue of inert impurities in food waste with significant implication to the planning, design, and operation of food waste processing and co-digestion plants. Other pertinent issues include regulatory uncertainty regarding gate fee, the lack of viable options for biogas utilisation, food waste collection and processing, impacts of co-digestion on biosolids reuse and downstream biogas utilisation, and lack of design and operation experience. Effort to address these bottlenecks and promote co-digestion requires a multi-disciplinary approach.

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  • Nghiem, Long D. & Koch, Konrad & Bolzonella, David & Drewes, Jörg E., 2017. "Full scale co-digestion of wastewater sludge and food waste: Bottlenecks and possibilities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 354-362.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:72:y:2017:i:c:p:354-362
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.062
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    16. Abdel Wahaab, Rifaat & Mahmoud, Mohamed & van Lier, Jules B., 2020. "Toward achieving sustainable management of municipal wastewater sludge in Egypt: The current status and future prospective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
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    19. Tonanzi, B. & Gallipoli, A. & Gianico, A. & Montecchio, D. & Pagliaccia, P. & Rossetti, S. & Braguglia, C.M., 2021. "Elucidating the key factors in semicontinuous anaerobic digestion of urban biowaste: The crucial role of sludge addition in process stability, microbial community enrichment and methane production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 272-284.
    20. Dalke, Rachel & Demro, Delaney & Khalid, Yusra & Wu, Haoran & Urgun-Demirtas, Meltem, 2021. "Current status of anaerobic digestion of food waste in the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    21. Julia Burmistrova & Marc Beutel & Erin Hestir & Rebecca Ryals & Pramod Pandey, 2022. "Anaerobic Co-Digestion to Enhance Waste Management Sustainability at Yosemite National Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-12, September.
    22. Ma, Chaonan & Liu, Jianyong & Ye, Min & Zou, Lianpei & Qian, Guangren & Li, Yu-You, 2018. "Towards utmost bioenergy conversion efficiency of food waste: Pretreatment, co-digestion, and reactor type," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 700-709.
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