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.
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