Grant: Alliance Grants

Climate change is a challenge for humans and wildlife and has been intensified by increased greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere due to human activities, particularly fossil fuel consumption. In 2015, Canada committed to the Paris Agreement to decrease GHG emissions. Canada has initiated economic incentives, created carbon tax policies for purchase/use of fossil fuels, and begun reforming renewable energy policies. Biogas is a clean and renewable energy source produced from anaerobic digestion (AD) systems at municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTPs). Each MWTP includes various treatment facilities with unique process designs and parameters due to geographical locations, which challenge the MWTP management of biogas production enhancement. For example, the proposed partner operates the Saskatoon Wastewater Treatment Plant (SWTP) which is an advanced facility subjected to highly varying regional temperatures due to its location in Saskatchewan, Canada. Despite AD being a contained process, these temperature fluctuations can influence other process streams which, in turn, impact the AD treatment efficiency. In addition, AD can be improved through addition of organic-rich waste materials such as brewery residuals produced by secondary partner Great Western Brewing Company Ltd., (GWBC). Therefore, this research group aims to develop a cost-effective and environment-friendly methodology to enhance biogas production potential at the SWTP which can then be beneficial for informing changes in other MWTPs worldwide. Methods will couple mathematical models and laboratory-based experiments to optimize mixing ratios for anaerobic co-digestion of organic-rich feedstocks from municipal and industrial sources and biochar created from wastewater sludge and agricultural residue-based biomasses. Optimization of the AD performances will result in: (1) local air quality improvement; (2) GHG emission reductions; (3) less time and effort for the management of biosolids; and (4) benefits to the local agricultural economy by increasing the value of agricultural waste residues used for biochar creation.