Environmental, Economic and Energy Benefits of Anaerobic Digestion
- Anaerobic digestion provides a variety of benefits. These may be classified into three groups viz. environmental, economic and energy:
- The environmental benefits include:
- Elimination of malodorous compounds.
- Reduction of pathogens.
- Deactivation of weed seeds.
- Production of sanitized compost.
- Decrease in GHGs emission.
- Reduced dependence on inorganic fertilizers by capture and reuse of nutrients.
- Promotion of carbon sequestration
- Beneficial reuse of recycled water
- Protection of groundwater and surface water resources.
- Improved social acceptance
Anaerobic digestion is advantageous in terms of energy generation in the following manner:
- Anaerobic digestion is a net energy-producing process.
- A biogas facility generates high-quality renewable fuel.
- Surplus energy as electricity and heat is produced during anaerobic digestion of biomass.
- Anaerobic digestion reduces reliance on energy imports.
- Such a facility contributes to decentralized, distributed power systems.
- Biogas is a rich source of electricity, heat, and transportation fuel.
The economic benefits associated with a biogas facility are:
- Anaerobic digestion transforms waste liabilities into new profit centers.
- The time devoted to moving, handling and processing manure is minimized.
- Anaerobic digestion adds value to negative value feedstock.
- Income can be obtained from the processing of waste (tipping fees), sale of organic fertilizer, carbon credits and sale of power.
- Power tax credits may be obtained from each kWh of power produced.
- A biomass-to-biogas facility reduces water consumption.
- It reduces dependence on energy imports.
- Anaerobic digestion plants increases self-sufficiency.
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