Category: Waste to energy

Why Cingari Family ShopRite is turning its food waste into energy

Read the full story at Grocery Dive.

At a time when the grocery industry is pressed to tackle its food waste problems, the Cingari Family Markets under the ShopRite banner in Connecticut has turned to an innovative solution through local partnerships.

The 12-store chain, which is part of the Wakefern Cooperative, is composting about 100 tons of organic material per month — roughly the weight of a 767 Jumbo Jet, Dominick Cingari, the grocer’s sustainability expert and fourth-generation member of the grocery company, said in an interview. That material is then converted into energy that powers homes and businesses across Connecticut. 

The flightpath from a groundbreaking catalyst to jets that soar on renewable fuel from waste

Read the full story from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

In March, a team of researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and LanzaTech was awarded the 2023 American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Award for Affordable Clean Chemistry at the ACS Spring meeting for development of a clean and sustainable alcohol-to-jet-fuel catalytic process, which holds promise for helping the nation achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The ACS award recognizes outstanding scientific discoveries that lay the foundation for environmentally friendly products or manufacturing processes.

This discovery was made possible due to industry partner LanzaTech’s carbon recycling process that first converts industrial waste gases to ethanol, then undergoes an innovative catalytic process developed at PNNL to upgrade the ethanol to fuel approved for commercial aviation.

How PepsiCo is turning waste into renewable energy: ‘A case study in best practice’

Read the full story at Bakery & Snacks.

PepsiCo has launched a project to turn waste into renewable energy at its snack plant in Carregado, Portugal. The move, a first for PepsiCo in Southern Europe, will reduce carbon emissions at the site.

On Chicago’s South Side, a unique bioenergy project helps fuel community connections

Read the full story at Energy News Network.

A biodigester fueled by food waste in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood is the centerpiece of a larger development to grow healthy food and economic opportunities.

Toronto Zoo facility codigests manure and food waste

Read the full story at Biocycle.

A unique project in Toronto’s Rouge National Urban Park is recycling manure and inedible food waste into renewable clean energy and fertilizer. Welcome to ZooShare, Canada’s first zoo-biogas plant that generates power from zoo manure, preprocessed green bin waste, produce from grocery stores, and grease trap waste from local restaurants, institutions, and food processing facilities.

Food waste to feed and biogas at dairy farm

Read the full story in Biocycle.

Ar-Joy Farms in southeastern Pennsylvania receives produce for animal feed and source separated organics and high strength liquids for anaerobic digestion.

Is jet fuel from waste finally ready for takeoff?

Read the full story at Waste Dive.

Multiple projects are underway to create sustainable aviation fuel from waste, but questions remain about whether it will be a scalable, viable success for the circular economy.

Plastics’ combustion may create surge in waste-to-energy plants’ climate emissions

Read the full story from the Maine Monitor.

Incineration of plastics containing ‘forever chemicals’ could be generating potent greenhouse gas emissions, but testing methods are not yet in place.

Pennsylvania Food Waste to Renewable Energy Assessment

Download the document.

The specific objectives of this study were to:

  • quantify current industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) food waste generation and diversion within Pennsylvania (the Commonwealth);
  • compile a comprehensive inventory of anaerobic digestion (AD) and compost facilities accepting ICI food waste and the current quantities of food waste being processed;
  • identify any additional food waste processing capacity available within these existing AD and compost facilities;
  • estimate the reduction in GHG emissions resulting from the current level of diversion of ICI food waste from landfill;
  • estimate the amount of biogas currently produced from processing ICI food waste via AD and estimate how much additional biogas could be produced by increasing ICI food waste diversion using existing infrastructure; and
  • identify best practices for expanding existing AD/compost processing capacity and encouraging additional diversion programs in order to further increase the diversion of food waste, reduce the amount of emissions occurring from landfilling food waste, and increase renewable energy generation.

SK invests in Fulcrum BioEnergy to accelerate production of low-carbon fuel from waste

Read the full story at Green Car Congress.

SK Inc., the strategic investment arm of South Korea’s SK Group, was part of a $50-million investment in Fulcrum BioEnergy, a US-based waste-to-fuels company. SK Inc. was joined in the investment with a Korean private equity fund.

Fulcrum produces biofuel on a commercial scale by chemically converting municipal solid waste (MSW) into transportation fuels. SK Inc. plans to enhance its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) portfolio with its investment in Fulcrum.