SUMMARY

Latest Italian plant will divert food waste from landfills for anaerobic digestion.

By Dale Lunan

Renewable natural gas (RNG) developer Anaergia said March 14 it had commissioned its newest biomethane facility in northern Italy, one of six it will have commissioned there over two years.

The plant, Ambiente & Risorse, can convert 40,000 metric tons/year of food scraps diverted from landfills into 3.9mn m3/year of RNG for injection into the region’s natural gas pipelines. It also captures CO2 created in the anaerobic digestion process and combines it with digestate to produce 9,000 mt/yr of calcium carbonate fertiliser.

“Our Ambiente & Risorse plant will prevent the methane emissions that would occur if food waste were landfilled and instead use the waste to create a valuable carbon-negative renewable fuel that displaces fossil fuels as well as fertiliser that will improve the soil in the region,” Anaergia CEO Andrew Benedek said. “This is the key to Anaergia’s mission and how we will help make net-zero a reality.”