Description
Anaerobic digestion of OFMSW occurs at stand-alone facilities specifically designed to manage these wastes and co-digestion facilities (i.e. on-farm and WWTP digesters) that accept off-site OFMSW but are designed to manage non-MSW organics (e.g. manure, sludge). Results of this study indicate as many as 181 AD facilities processed OFMSW in 2013: 25 stand-alone and 156 co-digestion facilities (75 on-farm, 81 WWTP). A total of 0.78 million tons of MSW organics were processed, equivalent to 2.1% of generated food waste. The majority (52%) was handled at stand-alone facilities, of which 55% use wet systems. By 2017, if all planned facilities come online as expected, nationwide stand-alone capacity could quadruple to nearly 2.5 million tons, with dry AD systems being the dominant AD technology. Additionally, a number of on-farm and WWTP facilities are expected to begin co-digesting during this time period. Overall, management of OFMSW via AD appears poised for growth and will likely play a larger role in U.S. efforts to manage OFMSW in the coming years.
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