Evaluation of Alternative Valorization Options for Institutional and Industrial Food Wastes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses 12-2018 Evaluation of Alternative Valorization Options for Institutional and Industrial Food Wastes Swati Hegde [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Hegde, Swati, "Evaluation of Alternative Valorization Options for Institutional and Industrial Food Wastes" (2018). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE VALORIZATION OPTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL FOOD WASTES by SWATI HEGDE A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sustainability Department of Sustainability Golisano Institute for Sustainability Rochester Institute of Technology December 2018 Author: _______________________________________________________________________ Sustainability Program Certified by: ______________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Thomas A. Trabold Associate Professor and Department Head, Sustainability Certified by: ______________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Nabil Z. Nasr Assistant Provost and Director, Golisano Institute for Sustainability i NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT © 2018 Swati Hegde ii EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE VALORIZATION OPTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL FOOD WASTES by Swati Hegde Submitted by Swati Hegde in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sustainability and accepted on behalf of the Rochester Institute of Technology dissertation committee. We, the undersigned members of the Faculty of the Rochester Institute of Technology, certify that we have advised and/or supervised the candidate on the work described in this dissertation. We further certify that we have reviewed the dissertation manuscript and approve it in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sustainability. Approved by: Dr. A. Christy Tyler _______________________________________________ (Defense Chair) Date Dr. Thomas A. Trabold _______________________________________________ (Dissertation Advisor) Dr. Callie W. Babbitt _______________________________________________ Dr. Jeffrey S. Lodge _______________________________________________ Dr. Sally Rowland ________________________________________________ (External Examiner) iii SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY December 2018 ABSTRACT Golisano Institute for Sustainability Rochester Institute of Technology Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Program: Sustainability Name of Candidate: Swati Hegde Title: Evaluation of Alternative Valorization Options for Institutional and Industrial Food Wastes In recent years many countries and several regions in the United States have passed legislation on banning landfilling of organic waste. It is a well-known fact that organic wastes, including food scraps, generate methane under anaerobic landfill environments and contribute significantly to global warming. As more regions are mandated to follow the landfill ban, there is an increasing demand for alternative technologies for the disposal, treatment and upcycling of food wastes. Disposal and treatment may not result in any value-added products and hence are not the most efficient ways to manage food waste. As food waste has a high energy value due to the presence of organic nutrients, it can be a suitable resource to generate energy, fuels, chemicals, and materials through ‘valorization’ technologies. Therefore, to proactively address food waste management issues in the future, this dissertation evaluated three alternative food waste valorization options for institutional (food scraps) and industrial food wastes. First, the food scraps and industrial food wastes were characterized for their chemical composition such as organic and inorganic nutrients. The objectives of this study were to (a) provide a detailed database on chemical characteristics of food scraps and industrial food wastes based on in-house laboratory measurements, third-party analysis, and literature data; (b) analyze the data obtained to understand the variability in characteristics between different sources of food waste. The outcomes of this chapter resulted in a comprehensive data collection and statistical analysis for food scraps from various sources and 10 different industrial food waste streams. The iv developed data inventory is useful to anyone who does not have resources to carry out food waste characterization and researchers who work on food waste modeling studies. Second, the process issues related to anaerobic digestion of food scraps were address using an experimental study. Process instability is a major issue in food scrap digestion at higher organic loading rates, and often leads to digester failure. The objectives of this study were to (a) study the effect of increasing organic loading rate on the stability of the process by monitoring several process parameters, and (b) offer a solution to the instability issues using an unconventional co- digestion approach. The experiments were carried out in semi-continuous mode with a daily feeding cycle to mimic the real-world conditions as closely as possible. Process parameters such as pH, volatile fatty acids, alkalinity, ammonia, biogas production, methane and hydrogen sulfide content of biogas were monitored on a regular basis. Results of this experiment provided useful information for digester operation on the threshold levels of various process parameters to that would help avoid a digester failure. Co-digestion of food scraps with other food sector wastes such as acid whey, wasted bread and soiled paper napkins were proven to significantly improve process stability and helped achieve high organic loading rate during the digestion of food scraps. These results are useful in the operation of non-farm digesters where conventional co-substrates (such as animal manure) are not available or not practical to haul. Third, the use of fermentation technology in food waste management was evaluated for its technological feasibility. While anaerobic digestion is a well-developed technology for organic waste management with a few processes issues related to food scrap digestion, the use of fermentation in food waste management is not well documented. Food waste fermentation to produce value-added fuels and chemicals is taking shape only in recent years. The objective of this work was to provide ‘state-of-the-art’ knowledge on fermentation of food wastes in the production of products, specifically ethanol, 1-butanol, iso-butanol, and organic acids using experimental and published data. With a combination of experimentally obtained and previously published studies, a matrix was developed that maps the suitability of producing either alcohols or organic acids from various food wastes. The outcomes of this study provided a contemporary knowledge on the research status related to food waste fermentation. Also, the types of food wastes that can be potential feedstocks for fermentation to produce ethanol, butanol, lactic acid and succinic acid were suggested through the developed matrix. The outcomes from this work provide useful v qualitative information to the growing number of businesses in the waste management world looking for newer and more efficient options for food waste valorization. Finally, the potential of thermochemical conversion as a food waste management strategy was explored using an exergy analysis and life cycle thinking approach. Use of thermochemical processing to produce a soil amendment called biochar is a circular economy inspired approach and needs evaluation as there is a limited number of research studies in this area. The objectives of this study were to (a) produce biochar using a small-scale commercial thermochemical processing unit and characterize the biochar for elemental composition, (b) estimate the exergy efficiency of various scenarios, and (c) estimate the global warming potential (GWP) by expanding the system boundary to use biochar as a soil amendment. Based on these results, the most practical options for management of food waste were recommended to produce biochar or thermal energy. The exergy analysis combined with GWP potential estimations can assist operators of thermochemical conversion systems to decide upon the practical operating conditions, and policy makers to consider and regulate newer technologies for food waste management. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my very special gratitude to Dr.Thomas A. Trabold, my adviser and mentor for his invaluable guidance and consistent support. He has been a constant source of inspiration and has made me grow into a better researcher by continually challenging me and guiding throughout this journey. I would especially like to thank him for his patience and making everything seem effortless. I would like to thank my dissertation committee members Dr. Jeffrey Lodge, Dr. Callie Babbitt, Dr. Sally Rowland for their constructive feedback that helped me validate and improve my dissertation papers. I would also like to thank the Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS) for funding me during the first year of my Ph.D., NYS Pollution Prevention Institute for offering