Anaerobic Digestion Process
The AD process generates a range of green products; renewable electricity, heat and bio-fertilizers.
Food waste is delivered to the site; it’s shredded and then processed through the CRS Anaerobic Digestor (AD). The AD system creates conditions that encourage the natural breakdown of organic matter by bacteria in the absence of air to produce:
- methane gas - which is burnt through a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generator to create renewable electricity.
A 20,000 tonne per annum AD produces enough electricity to power 500 homes! Households in the UK waste around 6.7 million tonnes every year (WRAP), this would generate enough power for 167,500 homes. Clearly householders as well as businesses need to prioritise reducing the amount of waste they generate and then look at systems to divert the remainder from landfill.
- bio-fertilizers - the liquid fraction of this can be used within agriculture, parks, golf courses etc. to both hydrate and feed the soils (reducing the amount of artificial, fossil-fuel based fertilisers used). The solid fraction can be mixed and composted to produce a nitrogen rich compost.
- heat - from the CHP process, some is used within the AD process and to heat the building, the remainder can be used for drying timber, heating greenhouses, heating business and houses.
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