Waste to Wealth: Harnessing Kitchen Food Waste for Decentralized Biogas Production and Organic Fertilizer
Keywords:
Anaerobic digestion, Biogas, Circular economy, Digestate, Food waste disposer, Grinding, Kitchen waste, ManureAbstract
The rapid rise in food waste has become a critical global issue, with over 1.3 billion tons produced annually. Improper disposal of kitchen waste poses severe environmental and health challenges, including methane emissions, leachate contamination, unpleasant odors, and public health risks. However, kitchen waste is rich in organic material and nutrients, making it an ideal candidate for Anaerobic Digestion (AD). The AD process produces biogas, a renewable alternative to fossil fuels, and digestate, a nutrient-rich byproduct that can be utilized as organic fertilizer. Case studies demonstrate that Food Waste Disposers (FWDs) connected to Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) can reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by up to 35% compared to landfilling. This integrated model addresses waste management issues while generating renewable energy and producing sustainable fertilizers, thereby supporting the principles of a circular economy.
This study presents an integrated waste-to-wealth system that incorporates a kitchen waste grinder to reduce particle size before sending the slurry to anaerobic digesters. Research demonstrates that grinding improves hydrolysis efficiency, shortens retention times, and enhances the overall performance of AD systems. The approach effectively converts kitchen waste into valuable resources, mitigating environmental impacts and contributing to sustainable waste management.
References
C. M. Ajay, S. Mohan, and P. Dinesha, “Decentralized energy from portable biogas digesters using domestic kitchen waste: A review,” Waste Management, vol. 125, pp. 10 26, Apr. 2021. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2021.02.031
L. Bhatia, H. Jha, T. Sarkar, and P. K. Sarangi, “Food waste utilization for reducing carbon footprints towards sustainable and cleaner environment: A review,” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 2318, Jan. 2023. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032318
J. Cheng and Q. Zhang, “Food waste-to-energy systems: An emerging paradigm for sustainable energy generation in households,” Energy Reports, vol. 5, pp. 82–89, 2019. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2019.01.001
MJB Kabeyi, “Biogas production and applications in the sustainable energy transition,” Frontiers in Energy Research, 2022, doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8750221
A. Siddique and M. Mehmood, “Biogas production from food waste: Potential, processes, and implications for decentralized applications,” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., vol. 24, no. 11, pp. 10393–10405, 2017. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8936-6
C. Gong, A. Singh, P. Singh, and A. Singh, “Anaerobic digestion of agri-food wastes for generating biofuels,” Indian Journal of Microbiology, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 427–440, Dec. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-021-00977-9
P. C. Roy and S. Paul, “Anaerobic digestion of biomass waste: A comprehensive review,” International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 4, no. 4, 2018. Available: https://ijsrset.com/home/issue/view/article.php?id=IJSRSET11844382
Chakravarty and S. A. Mandavgane, "Valorization of fruit and vegetable waste for biofertilizer and biogas," Journal of Food Process Engineering, vol. 44, no. 2, e13512, 2021. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfpe.13512
Ziad Aljumah and Sulaiman Alyahya, “Biogas production from kitchen wastes by anaerobic digestion,” International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology, 2023, Available: https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/biogas-production-from-kitchen-wastes?utm_source=chatgpt.com
D. Patowary, G. Ahmed, and D. C. Baruah, “Biogas and organic fertilizer from kitchen waste-based biogas plant at Tezpur University, Assam,” in Waste Valorisation and Recycling, S. K. Ghosh, Ed. Singapore: Springer, 2019, pp. 247–254. Available: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-2784-1_23?utm_source=chatgpt.com
A Phillip, S. M. Bhatt, “Enhanced biogas production using anaerobic co-digestion of animal waste and food waste: A review,” Journal of Scientific Research and Reports, vol. 30, no. 8, pp. 761–781, Aug. 2024, Available: https://journaljsrr.com/index.php/JSRR/article/view/2297?utm_source=chatgpt.com
H. Hamri, K. Kamil, and M. Z. Altim, “Analysis of the economic potential of organic fertilizer from biogas digestate waste (Slurry),” International Journal of Applied Research and Sustainable Sciences, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 1–6, 2023. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032318
S. Mambu, G. M. C. Mangindaan, and A. M. Tangapo, “Fertilizer from organic waste: A case study of small-scale biogas reactors,” Journal of Biotechnology and Conservation in Wallacea, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1–8, 2021. https://doi.org/10.35799/jbcw.v2i1.42729
A. S. Abdulkarim, J. Mohammed, K. A. Abdulyekeen, O. O. Olubajo, and S. A. Abdulsalam, “Biogas and biofertilizer from waste: A review,” Path of Science, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 3188–3195, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8100-3_13
R. Agarwal and S. Singh, "Application of signal processing techniques for noise reduction," in Handbook of Vibroacoustics, Noise and Harshness, Springer, 2025.
