Swette Center Postdoctoral Researcher Michelle Young’s blog Research Needed in Food Waste Co-digestion is featured on the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance site. Here, she explains that 30-40% of the U.S. food supply ends up as food waste, 76% of which is sent to landfills and accounts for one-third of landfill greenhouse gas emissions. Dr. Young suggests eliminating emissions by adding food waste to wastewater during anaerobic treatment to harvest electric energy. Additionally, she sees potential that future research could exploit the energy produced during co-digestion to support concurrent phosphorus recovery.
Michelle Young is a post-doctoral researcher in the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology. She received her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering in 2018. Her research focuses on utilizing existing wastewater treatment resources for improved nutrient and energy recovery from wastewater and non-traditional waste streams.
Hellow Dr. Michelle,
In 2014, we have worked on a small study on fruit and vegetable waste valorization, (https://www.inderscience.com/info/inarticle.php?artid=60200) . The finding indicates what you posted here; co-digestion of food waste. Though I am motivated to do further study on it, the experimental and analytical devices are limiting here. So if you have the resource, I am interested in doing more research with your team.
kr