In the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic US, anaerobic digestion (AD) is set to become increasingly important as a source of renewable source of energy that results in odor control, large greenhouse gas emission reductions, and transformation of nutrients. As a result, the renewable energy from biogas sector will play an increasingly central role in global energy management through the production of direct heat energy, electricity and renewable natural gas. This workshop will focus on experiences and lesson learned in anaerobic digestion in Maryland and the Northeast US. The workshop will incorporate discussion with informational sessions from federal and state employees working in this area, as well as researchers, farmers, and policy stakeholders. The relationship between AD and nutrients loading into the Chesapeake Bay, renewable energy portfolios standards, and diversion of food waste from landfill to digesters will be discussed. Organic wastes fractions of municipal solid waste are increasingly being diverted from landfills, but the market and relationship between waste disposal and energy production via AD are still emerging. The experience of best practice of dealing with the organic waste via AD will be discussed, as well as antibiotic resistance abatement through the AD process, biogas clean-up, and AD policy in the Northeast.
Workshop Topics:
- Anaerobic Digestion: Where We Are Today
- Digester Systems in the Northeast – Successful Case Studies
- Federal Biogas Policy
- MD State Biogas Policy
- Use of Biogas: Scrubbing, RNG, GenSets, and Use of Excess Heat
- Food Waste and Co-Substrates; landfill diversion
- Chesapeake Bay and Nutrient Management Relationship to Digestion
- Financial Reality of Digesters and National Programs
- Opportunities for Growth and Incentives in Northeast/Mid-Atlantic
- Wastewater Treatment Plant Digesters
- Antibiotic Resistance and Effect of Dairy Manure Treatment Technologies
