Researchers from Concordia’s Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering (BCEE) in collaboration with Bio-Terre Systems Inc. are taking the fight against global warming to colder climes.
Their weapon of choice? Cold-loving bacteria.
In a study published in Process Safety and Environmental Protection, authors Rajinikanth Rajagopal, David Bellavance and Mohammad Saifur Rahaman demonstrate the viability of using anaerobic digestion in a low-temperature (20°C) environment to convert solid food waste into renewable energy and organic fertilizer.
Researchers from Concordia’s Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering (BCEE) in collaboration with Bio-Terre Systems Inc. are taking the fight against global warming to colder climes.
Their weapon of choice? Cold-loving bacteria.
In a study published in Process Safety and Environmental Protection, authors Rajinikanth Rajagopal, David Bellavance and Mohammad Saifur Rahaman demonstrate the viability of using anaerobic digestion in a low-temperature (20°C) environment to convert solid food waste into renewable energy and organic fertilizer.
They employed psychrophilic bacteria — which thrive in relatively low temperatures — to break down food waste in a specially designed bioreactor. In doing so, they produced a specific methane yield comparable to that of more energy-intensive anaerobic digestion processes.
“There is enormous potential here to reduce the amount of fuel that we use for solid waste treatment,” Rahaman explains.
Read more at Concordia University
Image Credits: Love Food Hate Waste NZ via Wikimedia Commons
