UC Davis Developing Prototype Anaerobic Digester

UC Davis Developing Prototype Anaerobic Digester

UC Davis bioenvironmental engineer Ruihong Zhang is building a prototypical anaerobic digester, part of a $4 million project funded by the California Energy Commission and industry partners. The researcher sees the digester as a way to derive energy from the more than 14 million tons of high-moisture, organic waste generated in California each year.

Previous biological conversion systems have failed because they required that the waste be ground up, which canceled the energy-production benefits. Zhang's anaerobic digester should be better because, she said, it is designed to process waste materials in their "natural" form, easing material handling and converting the material into biogas at a faster rate.

The prototype digester at UC Davis is anticipated to fire up soon. It will consume about three tons of organic waste per day, delivered from collection facilities in Dixon and San Francisco. It will generate about 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, enough to meet the needs of 15 typical California homes. The energy will go to the UC Davis campus power supply.