1 Proposed bio-conversion technologies for food waste recycling in Singapore Hsien H. KHOO, Reginald B.H. TAN Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) SINGAPORE • Singapore is a densely populated island with high standards of living and large food consumption and waste • Total agriculture and farming occupies a total of 1500 hectares (1.6% of Singapore land area) • Food is mostly imported (~ 97.6%) from neighboring countries, (for example, rice, vegetables, fruits, fish, meat from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, etc), as well as other types of meat-products and fruits from Australia, New Zealand, U.S., etc • As most of the “beginning” part of the food chain are imports, the focus of this presentation is on the “end” of the chain, e.g. food wastes Introduction
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Proposed bio-conversion technologies for
food waste recycling in Singapore
Hsien H. KHOO, Reginald B.H. TAN
Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES)SINGAPORE
• Singapore is a densely populated island with high standards of living and large food consumption and waste
• Total agriculture and farming occupies a total of 1500 hectares (1.6% of Singapore land area)
• Food is mostly imported (~ 97.6%) from neighboring countries, (for example, rice, vegetables, fruits, fish, meat from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, etc), as well as other types of meat-products and fruits from Australia, New Zealand, U.S., etc
• As most of the “beginning” part of the food chain are imports, the focus of this presentation is on the “end”of the chain, e.g. food wastes
Introduction
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Singapore food global supply chain (imports)
Some import items include:
- Rice and other agriculture products from Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia-Vegetables/tropical fruits/meats from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand- Vegetables/fruits/meat from China, Japan- Wheat products, cereal, meat from Australia, New Zealand- etc..
Waste disposal statistics for year 2005
• Food waste accounts for 20% of Singapore waste stream
• Food waste in year 2005 totaled 531,500 tons
Food waste
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End-of-food chain disposal• Incineration and landfilling are the most
common methods for food waste management• Landfilling of food causes foul air, bad odor,
and increase of pathogens in soil and water• Total food waste recycled (converted into
animal feed) in 2005 was only 7%• Singapore Green Plan 2012Green Plan 2012 targets 30% for
food recycling and the aim for zero landfill• Food waste is a biodegradable material for
which alternative recycling options exists• Two examples proposed: Aerobic CompostingAerobic Composting
and Anaerobic DigestionAnaerobic Digestion
Current food management for the “End” stage of food chain
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Treatment/recycling of food waste
• New and innovative bio-technologies are required for promoting food recycling
• Proposal: Anaerobic and Aerobic treatment of waste food
Food waste
Food waste
Composts Bio-Fertilizers
Aerobic Composting• Aerobic composting is the transformation of organic
wastes (food) into biologically stable, humus substances suitable for soils and plant use
• New developments in bio-technology have emerged for composting processes due to increase in landfill costs and decrease in landfill space
• For aerobic composting to take place, the following environmental conditions are required: Air (oxygen), organic matter, minerals, water, microorganisms
Organic matter
Microorganisms
Minerals
Water Compost pile
Heat Water
CO2
O2
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Aerobic Composting• An aerobic composting system was developed at
the Nanyang Technological University of Singaporefor waste food bioconversion to bio-fertilizers
• Pilot-scale reactor consisting of a steel cylinder (500 L volume)
• Temperature in reactor maintained at: 55 – 65 °C• Moisture content: 75 – 80% to prevent drying• To maintain pH, 5% of CaCO3 was added to the
food waste solids• Time taken for full conversion food waste into bio-
fertilizers: 10 days
Ref: Stabnikova et al. (2005), Biotechnology for aerobic conversion of food waste into organic fertilizer, Waste Management and Research, 23, 39 – 47.
Schematic diagram of Aerobic Bioconversion (Composting) system for food waste
Heating Plate
Air Outlet
Air Inlet
Output GateCooling
Tower
Blower & Motor Chamber
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Anaerobic food conversion• Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biochemical
degradation process that converts complex organic materials into biogas in the absence of oxygen
• Biogas is composed of methane, carbon dioxide and trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide
• Food wastes, mostly generated from food processing, food service and re-tail establishments, are excellent feedstock for AD
• Food wastes typically have high ratios of volatile solids/total solids (VS/TS), which indicate high energy content
Anaerobic food conversion• A two-phase anaerobic digester system was
designed, also by Nanyang Technological University, to produces organic residue that can be used as soil conditioners or fertilizers
• The system was designed to minimize the amount of food waste for disposal in Singapore
• Apart from fertilizers, bio-gas is also produced as a new source of energy
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Anaerobic food conversion• The two-phase digester system was called: Hybrid Hybrid
Anaerobic SolidAnaerobic Solid––Liquid (HASL) systemLiquid (HASL) system
• In the HASL system, organic matter is degraded to volatile fatty acids (VCA) by hydrolytic and acidogenic bacteria in an acidogenic reactor
• The laboratory-scale HASL system consists of acidogenic and methanogenic cylindrical reactors
• Volume of reactors: 5.4 dm3 and 3.0 dm3
• Operating conditions are: 70 °C for 1 hr or 150 °Cfor 2 hrs
Ref: Wang et al. (2006), Digestion of pre-treated food waste in a hybrid anaerobic solid-liquid (HASL) system, J Chem Tech & Biotech, 81, 345-351.
Anaerobic Digestion: Two-phase digester system (HASL) for waste food conversion
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Proposed food waste management
Zero landfill
Life cycle assessment• LCA is carried out for waste food management in
Singapore• Objective: Investigate alternatives for increasing
food waste recycling to 30% by alternate bio-conversion methods; and compare with the present incineration / landfill practices
• Scope: Only the main emissions of the processes will be taken into consideration
• System boundary: from waste generation to final conversion (due to unavailable data, conversion of food waste to animal feed is not included)
• Functional Unit: Total annual amount of food waste Total annual amount of food waste
Up to 45% reduction in environmental impacts with 30% food recycling
Discussions and Conclusions• For many years, the easiest way to get rid of organic
wastes is either by dumping them in landfills or by mass burning (incineration)
• However, since food waste is a biodegradable material, better options exists
•• Aerobic CompostingAerobic Composting and Anaerobic DigestionAnaerobic Digestion are two methods presented for food waste recycling
• Both bio-conversion processes can offer environmental benefits of reducing negative environmental impacts, as well as, economic benefits of producing useful products such as compost or bio-fertilizers
• An added advantage is the generation of bio-gas by Anaerobic Digestion (AD)
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• Steps to promote food recycling should be introduced at a regional level
• Involve the participation of communities and general public by creating awareness and neighborhood projects to facilitate waste food collection
• Some of the suggestions include: - Collection of food scraps from their source (restaurants, food stalls, canteens, etc)- Provide the use of Separate waste bins- Set schedule for collection- Provide information on what are the allowable contaminants that may be mixed with the food waste fractions