The UAB to install a pilot treatment plant for organic waste generated by campus restaurants

25/05/2018

The Compost Research Group (GICOM) of the Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering of the UAB, coordinated by Professor Antoni Sánchez, and the Waste Agency of Catalonia recently reached an agreement to conduct a demonstrative trial of decentralised biowaste management in Catalonia. A pilot plant will be installed, a micro-anaerobic digester which will treat the organic fraction of waste generated by the restaurants on campus. The process will yield biogas for energy generation and a digested product, while it will also be able to extract added-value bioproducts. Researchers plan to have the plant up and running by the end of the year.
 
The agreement forms part of the European programme DECISIVE (acronym for A DECentralIzed management Scheme for Innovative Valorization of urban biowastE), coordinated by France's Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA) and including the participation of the GICOM research group. This multidisciplinary consortium is formed by different international entities, universities and companies from around Europe, focused on the design and implementation of innovative waste management systems and particularly of the management of solid urban organic waste. The project aims to develop a decentralised local organic waste management system which makes it possible to generate products for ecological farming.
 
To do so, two technologies will be used: micro-anaerobic digestion and solid state fermentation. The organic fraction obtained from the selective collection of residue will be treated with an anaerobic digestion system which will yield two products: biogas and a solid fraction called a digested product. The biogas obtained can be transformed into electric energy, as a source of renewable energy. The digested product generated is valued through a solid state fermentation process which leads to the production of biopesticides which can be used in ecological farming.
 
The main objective of this project is to introduce a decentralised treatment system of the organic fraction of municipal residue, at small-scale and close to the point of generation, complementary to the large facilities of centralised systems found far from the point of generation. In this manner, people will be able to have a clearer idea of what is a circular economy and that waste can have other uses, thereby favouring its integration into daily life.