Anaerobic Digestion Facility
This facility has replaced the Edmonton Composting Facility as the City’s largest primary processing plant for organics.
The Anaerobic Digestion Facility (ADF) enables the City to:
- Process up to 40,000 tonnes of organic waste per year
- Provide renewable energy in the form of electricity and heat
- Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with disposing of organics in a landfill
Organic material from the food scraps carts and organic waste that is manually separated from garbage (pre-processed multi-unit mixed waste) is processed in this facility. It works a bit like a stomach: material is put in a closed cell without oxygen and is digested by bacteria to make biogas (a mixed gas composed primarily of methane). The biogas is then captured and burned in combined heat and power (CHP) generators for energy generation in the form of electricity and heat. The residue from digestion is called digestate and is transferred to the Compost Cure Site where it is cured into compost.