CSANR has long recognized that organic waste streams from urban, rural, and agricultural areas including food scraps, manures, processing water, straw, and fats, oils and grease (FOG) contain valuable food, energy and nutrients that could be converted to renewable energy, transportation fuels, and bio-products. The use of such material is a win-win solution that could simultaneously produce valuable renewable products while reducing the environmental threats that result from present landfilling, improper field disposal, or incineration.

Through this program, CSANR is contributing toward a world “beyond waste.”

Our resource recovery work is supporting the development and demonstration of treatment and conversion technologies that efficiently utilize various organic feeds. To support commercialization of new and viable waste management technologies, our work evaluates and enhances economic viability by reducing processing costs and maximizing co-product value.

We are also working to maximize synergies and interconnections between technologies, through biorefinery systems approaches. These systems utilize a suite of interchangeable treatment technologies to achieve impact and viability greater than individual parts. This approach is summarized in our video, “Anaerobic Digestion: Beyond Waste Management” (a dairy farm-based system) featured in the sidebar and illustrated biorefinery concept documents for a municipal organics solids processing system and dairy.

Each of these technologies as well as their interconnections, ecosystem benefits, and co-product markets are being actively researched and demonstrated with CSANR support.

Publications

Many publications, presentations, videos, webinars and posters have been produced by this program.  To browse by topic, please view the Waste Management and Energy pages.  All Resource Recovery Program publications are available in our publications database.