Kuo Jeff, Dow Jason
a Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , California State University , Fullerton , CA , USA.
b Central Marin Sanitation Agency , San Rafael , CA , USA.
J Air Waste Manag Assoc. 2017 Sep;67(9):1000-1011. doi: 10.1080/10962247.2017.1316326. Epub 2017 May 12.
Biopower can diversify energy supply and improve energy resiliency. Increases in biopower production from sustainable biomass can provide many economic and environmental benefits. For example, increasing biogas production through anaerobic digestion of food waste would increase the use of renewable fuels throughout California and add to its renewables portfolio. Although a biopower project will produce renewable energy, the process of producing bioenergy should harmonize with the goal of protecting public health. Meeting air emission requirements is paramount to the successful implementation of any biopower project. A case study was conducted by collecting field data from a wastewater treatment plant that employs anaerobic codigestion of fats, oils, and grease (FOG), food waste, and wastewater sludge, and also uses an internal combustion (IC) engine to generate biopower using the biogas. This research project generated scientific information on (a) quality and quantity of biogas from anaerobic codigestion of food waste and municipal wastewater sludge, (b) levels of contaminants in raw biogas that may affect beneficial uses of the biogas, (c) removal of the contaminants by the biogas conditioning systems, (d) emissions of NO, SO, CO, CO, and methane, and (e) types and levels of air toxics present in the exhausts of the IC engine fueled by the biogas. The information is valuable to those who consider similar operations (i.e., co-digestion of food waste with municipal wastewater sludge and power generation using the produced biogas) and to support rulemaking decisions with regards to air quality issues for such applications.
Full-scale operation of anaerobic codigestion of food waste with municipal sludge is viable, but it is still new. There is a lack of readily available scientific information on the quality of raw biogas, as well as on potential emissions from power generation using this biogas. This research developed scientific information with regard to quality and quantity of biogas from anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and municipal wastewater sludge, as well as impacts on air quality from biopower generation using this biogas. The need and performance of conditioning/pretreatment systems for biopower generation were also assessed.
生物能源可以使能源供应多样化并提高能源弹性。利用可持续生物质增加生物能源产量可带来诸多经济和环境效益。例如，通过对食物垃圾进行厌氧消化来增加沼气产量，将增加整个加利福尼亚州可再生燃料的使用，并丰富其可再生能源组合。尽管生物能源项目会产生可再生能源，但生物能源的生产过程应与保护公众健康的目标相协调。满足空气排放要求对于任何生物能源项目的成功实施至关重要。通过从一家废水处理厂收集现场数据进行了一项案例研究，该厂采用对脂肪、油类和油脂（FOG）、食物垃圾以及废水污泥进行厌氧共消化的方式，并且还使用内燃机利用沼气来产生生物能源。该研究项目生成了有关以下方面的科学信息：（a）食物垃圾与城市废水污泥厌氧共消化产生的沼气的质量和数量；（b）可能影响沼气有益用途的未处理沼气中的污染物水平；（c）沼气调节系统对污染物的去除情况；（d）一氧化氮、二氧化硫、一氧化碳、二氧化碳和甲烷的排放；（e）以沼气为燃料的内燃机废气中存在的空气有毒物质的类型和水平。这些信息对于那些考虑类似运营（即食物垃圾与城市废水污泥共消化以及利用产生的沼气发电）的人以及支持针对此类应用的空气质量问题制定规则的决策具有重要价值。
食物垃圾与城市污泥厌氧共消化的全面运营是可行的，但仍属新事物。关于未处理沼气的质量以及使用这种沼气发电的潜在排放，缺乏现成的科学信息。本研究得出了关于食物垃圾与城市废水污泥厌氧共消化产生的沼气的质量和数量以及使用这种沼气进行生物发电对空气质量影响的科学信息。还评估了生物发电调节/预处理系统的必要性和性能。
