Sept. 12 - BioDigester Breaks Ground in Davis
CleanWorld broke ground today on its anaerobic digester facility at UC Davis.
The BioDigester is located at what used to be UC Davis’ landfill. It utilizes technology designed by UC Davis’ own Dr. Ruihong Zhang, an internationally prominent UC Davis researcher and professor.
The facility will process 20,000 tons per year - nearly 1,500 truckloads -- of food waste from dining halls, dormitories and local restaurants, agricultural waste and green waste. The process, which captures methane and other greenhouse gases results in the production of biogas and electricity which will be used in UC Davis facility operations. In addition, the process creates organic soil amendments and fertilizers for area farms.
When organic waste is sent to landfills, it releases methane, which is a powerful Greenhouse Gas 25 times more powerful than Carbon Dioxide. Uncaptured, it contributes to Climate Change, but when captured it creates a renewable form of energy. The fuel produced by CleanWorld Partners BioDigesters is the only commercially available negative-carbon fuel in California.
This facility will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 13,500 tons annually, as well as produce over 4 million gallons of fertilizer and soil amendments - enough to provide low cost, natural fertilizers for 145 acres of California’s farmlands every day.
As more communities seek to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and work to achieve the 75% recycling goal set in AB 341, more projects such as this one should be supported.
CleanWorld partners also has facilities in Sacramento and Natomas.