Turning food waste into biofuels through total recycling
A leading business solution provider is urging Thai entrepreneurs to adopt the latest in recycling technology to deal with increasing food waste from big cities as a first step toward sustainable environmental management.
Pises Dissawat, executive vice president of Loxley’s network solution business, told The Nation that food waste in Thailand either goes to landfill or is transformed into animal feed, both of which are expensive solutions, with the former, in particular, producing methane, a greenhouse gas.
Pises said the company has been studying technology from overseas that takes a more sustainable approach to dealing with food waste, and one of the latest solutions to catch its attention is what is known as total recycling,
Introduced by AEL International Holdings in Hong Kong, the solution aims to recycle food waste into biogas, oil and protein-rich sludge under a zero-discharge approach, meaning no gas or waste will be released into the environment, and all the power used will come from renewable energy.
The recycling starts with a pre-treatment process, in which waste from large establishments such as restaurants, hotels and food courts is transported in standard 240-litre bins to a reactor. Using mechanical and biological treatment, the reactor turns the food waste into slurry, which serves as a feedstock for biogas manufacturing by anaerobic digestion.
“The pre-treatment facility needs just 30 square metres of space to treat 1,000 kilogrammes of waste per day. It also requires relatively low investment for installation and maintenance,” Pises said.
In the post-treatment process, the liquid from the previous process will be treated through a two-stage anaerobic digestion process. After around 14 days under a strict treatment regimen that controls temperature, flow rate and oxygen levels, the liquid will be transformed into biogas, oil and protein-rich sludge. The latter could be used as animal feed, said Pises.
“This solution is working and now affordable,” he said. “Thai entrepreneurs need to take a step forward and adopt this technology for a better environment and society. It will be a small step but comes with a far greater reward – sustainability.”
