Bovine Biomimicry: Making Renewable Natural Gas from Food Waste, Wastewater, and Sludge

Abstract

As the energy crisis worsens, demand for renewable energy systems is at an all time high. Our project utilizes anaerobic digestion, a process observed in a cow's rumen stomach, capable of converting food waste into renewable biogas. To improve the efficiency of biogas production in our system, we aim to introduce micro-aeration, which involves introducing small amounts of air into an anaerobic bioreactor. We are focusing on controlling the oxygen concentration uniformity and bubble size to improve oxygen diffusivity. The final output of our design process will be a micro-aeration system that can be implemented into anaerobic bioreactors