THE EXPANDED BIOENERGY CENTER
will use anaerobic digestion to turn waste from the chicken industry into two products:
The technology involves microbes, not combustion — essentially applying the same process that happens inside a cow’s stomach on a much larger scale, with energy and environmental benefits at the end. Bioenergy Devco along with its subsidiary, BTS, have built 250+ similar facilities around the globe and operates 140 of them.
PROJECTUPDATE
See the presentation made to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources
WHATIS ANAEROBIC DIGESTION?
Anaerobic digestion is a safe and natural process that uses microbes to break down organic materials into important and valuable end-products. End products such as renewable energy, and an organic soil additive. This widely adopted technology is used worldwide, with about 50 million digesters in operation today. Those ranging from small backyard digesters to larger digesters, and are common at wastewater treatment sites, farms, and food processing facilities. Our Anaerobic digestion facilities are very innovative, but this technology is hardly new or untested.
WHYANAEROBIC DIGESTION?
Ineffective disposal of excess food waste has an enormous impact on the environment and your community. These materials usually end up in an incinerator where they are combusted, emitting pollution. Sometimes they end up in a landfill where they decompose and release harmful gases into the atmosphere.
Adopting and integrating AD within your community will lower fossil fuel and chemical fertilizer use. It will decrease greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our reliance on unhealthy disposal facilities.
Anaerobic Digestion is most effective in areas with large quantities of food waste. Especially in areas where their disposal poses a challenge and where there are high demands for natural gas or electrical energy.
BENEFITSFOR THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
Safe Water Quality
BDC’s fully enclosed anaerobic digesters eliminate the groundwater pollution often caused by excessive land application and landfill operations, minimizing runoff that can poison ecosystems and cause significant human health problems. The facility does not require fresh water to process materials.
An alternative to land application
Residents of Sussex County are well familiar with the unpleasant, pervasive smell associated with land application. Instead of those materials being spread on, sprayed on, or injected into farm soil, they will be taken to the Bioenergy Innovation Center and recycled in an enclosed system.
Economic Development
The Bioenergy Innovation Center will expand its workforce. In addition to the equipment operators, floor operators, mechanics, and administrative staff employed there now, we will hire environmental technicians and microbiologists once the work is expanded.
Better Air Quality
In Sussex County, the facility is designed to minimize carbon-intensive disposal methods, such as landfills and land application, which release polluting greenhouse gases and damage the air we breathe. Shifting away from polluting forms of organics disposal will yield immediate tangible results for the environmental health of Delaware’s communities ¬– particularly those that have been most underserved historically.
Healthy and Safe Living
BDC welcomes the opportunity to build relationships with communities. We are committed to understanding community priorities that address jobs, local hiring, environmental concerns, and other challenges to guarantee that the communities in which we operate enjoy the benefits of anaerobic digestion. BDC has implemented many design features relating to odor and dust control, traffic concerns, noise, safety, and much more.
BY THE NUMBERS
A typical anaerobic digestion project can:
Visit our virtual media room to watch tour videos, view informational materials, meet our team, and more.
GET IN TOUCH
Bioenergy Devco and the Bioenergy Innovation Center welcome the opportunity to meet with our neighbors and show how our anaerobic digestion facilities will bring a more sustainable approach to processing regional organics and generating renewable energy – all while improving soil, water, and air quality. We have already met with many residents and community leaders, led tours of our current composting facility, and answered many questions.