Virtual Seminar: Dr. Stephanie Lansing, University of Maryland

Title: Biogas and Bioplastics: Valorizing Food Waste, Algae, and Manure

Speaker: Dr. Stephanie Lansing 

Host: Dr. Sook Chung

Contact imetdirectorsoffice@umces.edu for zoom details. 

Abstract: Organic substrates, such as food waste, algae, and manure, can be converted into biogas through anaerobic digestion processes. An overview of anaerobic digestion systems, from lab to full- scale, will be detailed. These systems include co-digestion of food waste and black water using several innovative design elements, including dynamic hydrocavitation and microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) incorporation. A full-scale study of co-digestion of food waste, poultry processing DAF (dissolved air flotation), and dairy manure will be detailed, as well as a pilot- scale system at the Port of Baltimore digesting harvested algae produced on an algal flow way, receiving eutrophic water from the Patapsco River. The pilot-scale system digested only algae, while a lab-based system co-digested this algal substrate with food waste, dairy manure, and poultry manure, and then evaluated the efficacy of the digester effluent to fertilize lettuce. Food waste substrates were also transformed into another valuable product, bioplastics, through dark fermentation with the use of the produced volatile fatty acids (VFAs) to create polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using the halophilic bacteria, Haloferax mediterranei. The dark fermentation process included thermohydrolysis pretreatment and MEC incorporation to enhance the microbial degradation of the food waste while arresting methanogenesis to ensure that the produced VFAs are available for PHA formation. The results are being compared to anaerobic digestion of food waste to determine if bioplastic formation improves the economics and sustainability of community-scale systems treating food wastes, with techno-economic analyses (TEA) and life cycle assessments (LCA) from lab to pilot-scale systems. Additionally, the impact of incorporating high salinity food processing wastes into the process is being assessed.