While food waste contributes significantly to global pollution, using food waste to generate energy can make a significant impact. In reality, converting food waste to energy may be the new solution we seek.
Food waste contains organic refuse such as eggshells, stems, and peels. All this is thrown in the trash, where it rots and decomposes, producing much methane gas. Methane gas has a greenhouse impact and is one of the primary causes of climate change.
What is Food Waste to Energy?
Waste-to-energy, also known as recycling energy, refers to any procedure that transforms refuse into a source of usable energy. Waste-to-energy technologies can convert gaseous, liquid, and semi-solid waste into heat, transportation fuel, or power. Non-recyclable waste is used in trash-to-energy technology because there are no other options.
Aside from being a more environmentally friendly choice, converting food waste into energy allows us to use methane gas and help with the global food waste problem. To find and deliver solutions to the world’s biggest problems – addressing food and energy requirements while supporting and replenishing the earth – U.S. Soy and industry partners are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation to meet innovative food and energy demands.
How to Create Energy from Food Waste?
Food waste is gathered and freed of plastics and other non-decomposing materials to be converted to energy. The food is transported into enclosed tanks, where microorganisms break it down through anaerobic digestion without air. After that, the food refuse is converted into fertilizer, producing methane gas. The gathered methane gas is then transformed into heat or electricity that can be used to power our structures and appliances.
It would take days to finish the procedure if anaerobic decomposition were the only method used. Therefore, hydrothermal refining is used to increase its efficiency. It speeds up converting biomass into electricity and more efficiently converts food waste. The remaining mixture is the finest fertilizer for crops after the discharge of biogases. One truck of food waste can be converted into enough electricity to power 20,000 televisions for an hour. Just consider how much fuel can be produced by properly managing food refuse. Both organizations and governments must cooperate in executing this on a larger scale.
Which Food Refuse is Suitable For Making Biofuel?
We must realize that food is squandered not only after consumption but also after harvest. Food refuses that can be utilized to make fertilizers and biofuels are:
- Farmers produce and store extra food.
- Due to inadequate infrastructure or financial constraints, food is wasted.
- Food waste is due to improper management and processing.
- Remains from restaurants.
- Food that people purchase and discard.
The Methods For Converting Food Waste to Energy
Developed countries are implementing various methods to turn food waste into electricity. Only a few of these technologies are effective at converting food waste into electricity, including:
- Incineration: This is the practice of disposing of waste by burning it.
- The thermal decomposition of organic refuse in a controlled setting is known as pyrolysis and gasification.
- Using hot water to handle biomass, hydrothermal carbonization is a thermochemical procedure.
How Biogas is Made and How is It Useful?
Biogas plays a crucial role in converting food waste into electricity. The decomposition of organic refuses results in the production of biogas. Anaerobic digestion of food wastes results in a mixture of gases that can be further broken down to create electricity or heat energy. Four stages are involved in this.
The carbohydrates in food waste are broken down in the first step, known as hydrolysis so that bacteria can work on it in the second stage. During a procedure, organic acid and a mixture of gases are produced by bacteria. These organic acids must first be transformed to create acetic acid, ammonia, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. The fourth step transforms these components into biogas, a usable energy source.
The blue flame that biogas generates is comparable to that of natural gas. It can be utilized for warmth or as fuel. Biogas offers a better method to manage waste dumps and is environmentally friendly when used in a controlled manner. The biogas produced from waste can be used to make several things. Biogas aids in lowering carbon consumption and moves us closer to civilization with low carbon emissions.
How Transforming Food Waste into Energy is The Best Solution?
Population growth increases waste, and pollution grows as food waste increases. Climate change brought on by pollution causes more serious environmental problems. It is a step toward a healthy world where we can live securely and soundly if food waste is recycled to create biogas.
The issues can be effectively solved with biogas. The sustainable survival of this planet is ensured by using biogas as an energy source because it makes the world safer and greener.
Bottomline
An innovative and cutting-edge method of managing organic refuse is converting food waste to energy. Various technologies are available to turn food refuse into energy, including anaerobic decomposition and fermentation of waste to produce biofuel. Adopting such sustainable practices will benefit the environment by reducing the number of pollutants in our surroundings.
We must move to safeguard the environment. Learn more about food wastage and how it affects the environment. Or find out about other approaches to reducing food wastage, like upcycling.
