Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
The transformation of the wastewater sector requires WRRFs to be innovative and resourceful. The pursuit of innovation is central to the UOTF vision of a clean water “innovation ecosystem,” centered around wastewater utilities. Other key elements include technology developers and suppliers, the finance community, energy utilities, public and private elements of the solid waste sector,...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count243
Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
The first challenge a utility faces is to determine if co-digestion fits with its mission and long-term strategic goals. If it does, the next challenge is to sketch out a long-term business strategy and implementation plan for a mature utility co-digestion program as well as to develop detailed investment project proposals, as they are needed to carry out the plan over time.
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count175
Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
In this section we report key findings from the case studies of operational co-digestion programs.
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count1,521
Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
Resource Recovery Product Lines. More WRRFs are slowly beginning to address the relatively untapped potential of food scraps as an AD feedstock. Innovative arrangements to supply the new product of preprocessed food scrap slurries suitable for digestion are helping. Many WRRFs are now evaluating projects to produce RNG for use as vehicle fuel or pipeline injection (typically for vehicle...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count266
Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
Among WRRFs that evaluated co-digestion, the primary reason offered for not going forward is the lack of enough economic return. Contributing factors cited include uncertain feedstock supply and revenues, low energy prices (which mean low energy savings), lack of access to energy markets to sell electricity or RNG due to stringent interconnection standards or unfavorable energy tariffs, scale too...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count981
Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
A successful business strategy for co-digestion will create value and will manage the associated risks. However, the specifics will vary for each utility because a successful strategy needs to be tailored to the utility. This tailoring needs to take into account policy and market environment, long-term mission and strategic goals, organizational culture, and resources. As a result, we do not offer...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count682
Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
The findings from successful and unsuccessful co-digestion programs highlight the importance of conducting long-term planning and adopting risk management strategies. Table 3 (p. 33) provides a set of solutions to various impediments and risks WRRFs may face, including access to capital and the operational and economic risks associated with feedstocks, energy, and biosolids. (The report also...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count248
Description: Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
Co-digestion at WRRFs can be successful where there is a fit with the organization culture, support from the utility decision-makers for projects outside of the core mission area, and market and policy opportunities to create economic value. It is important to recognize that co-digestion does not fit all contexts. In some places, too many of the essential elements may be missing. Evaluating the...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count221
Food Waste Co-digestion at Water Resource Recovery Facilities