The California Energy Commission (CEC) provided financial support to California Grinding Inc (CGI) for the development and demonstration of a new and innovative organic waste pre-digestion technology to be incorporated into conventional anaerobic digestion technology called VERDE. This technology is able to take all organic biomasses, including lignocellulosic biomasses that previously break down poorly if any at all, and turn them into precursors for effective methane formation in the Anaerobic Digestion (AD) process. The breakdown of green waste, food waste, and manure feed stocks could become much more efficient and thorough, allowing for significantly higher production of biogas from these sources. The potential impact of this technology and the use of organic waste for methane production could be a major breakthrough for anaerobic digestion.
This report describes the pilot and pre-commercial demonstration scale testing accomplished in this project. The testing program confirmed that commercial scale utilization of this pre-digestion technology provides a cost-effective solution for organic waste disposal and transportation fuel production. This project demonstrated how the pre-digestion technology can much more effectively convert organic materials, which would otherwise be landfilled, to biomethane (as renewable natural gas (RNG)) for local use to offset fossil fuel consumption in heavy-duty on-road vehicles. This reduces the creation of greenhouse gases through the displacement of fossil fuels and elimination of organic waste in the landfill.
Additionally, the project demonstrated how the pre-digestion technology could reduce local criteria air pollutant generation in this highly polluted air basin by eliminating organic waste disposal to landfill and substituting clean biofuel for fossil-based transportation fuel.
