Implementation of anaerobic digestion facilities in the food and beverage industry
In food and beverage production processes take agricultural biomass as input. These production processes result in biogenic by-products and waste, often very aquatious, that can be very valuable feedstocks for generating bioenergy through anaerobic digestion. In the report “Implementation of anaerobic digestion facilities in the food and beverage industry” investigated scenarios to integrate a biogas plant to the food and beverage production facilities, using either residues, wastes, by-products or wastewaters as feedstock.
In this context, it is important to pursue a cascading utilisation concept which prioritizes re-use and food/feed application of the by-products prior to energy utilisation. The production of biogas is an attractive option, since food and beverage production processes are energy intensive, and biogas is a multi-purpose energy carrier. Using the renewable gas for the food and beverage production, based on the ‘process generated’ by-products and waste the overall carbon footprint of the food and beverage production process is reduced.
The report provides detailed feedstock characteristics and gives a guide to the food and beverage industry – one of the largest agricultural industry sectors globally – on how a biogas project should be pursued and which typical questions arise. As a practical report a variety of international examples of biogas plants that are integrated into the food and beverage industry are shown: meat industry, breweries, distilleries and potato processing sites. Typical plant details are given such as: location and operating company, investment, biogas production, energy utilisation and reactor size and type.
Figure 1: Interactions between agriculture, food processing, food and feed consumption and energy
supply (reproduced with the kind permission of the World Biogas Association).
