Abstract
With the implementation of new policies supporting renewable natural gas production from organic wastes, Canada began replacing traditional disposal methods with highly integrated biogas production strategies. Herein, data from published papers, Canadian Biogas Association, Canada’s national statistical agency, and energy companies’ websites were gathered to gain insight into the current status of anaerobic digestion plants in recovering energy and resource from organic wastes. The availability of materials prepared for recycling by companies and local waste management organizations and existing infrastructures for municipal solid waste management were examined. Governmental incentives and discouragements in Canada and world anaerobic digestion leaders regarding organic fraction municipal solid waste management were comprehensively reviewed to identify the opportunities for developing large-scale anaerobic digestion in Canada. A range of anaerobic digestion facilities, including water resource recovery facilities, standalone digesters, and on-farm digesters throughout Ontario, were compared in terms of digestion type, digester volume, feedstock (s), and electricity capacity to better understand the current role of biogas plants in this province. Finally, technology perspectives, solutions, and roadmaps were discussed to shape the future in terms of organic fraction municipal solid waste management. The findings suggested that the biogas industry growth in Canada relies on provincial energy and waste management policies, advanced technologies for diverting organic waste from landfills, improving biogas yield using existing pretreatment methods, and educating farmers regarding digester operations.
Highlights
The Canadian economy currently seems locked into an inefficient system
Have recently could develop a reliable and standard protocol based on physicochemical characterization, experimental tests, life cycle assessment (LCA), and economic analysis to determine the upscale feasibility of the proposed pretreatment method for anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge
Over the past 10 years, Canada has been investigating the feasibility of various available renewable energy sources such as biomass, wind, and solar
Summary
The Canadian economy currently seems locked into an inefficient system. Production, economics, contracts, regulation, and consumer behaviour all favor the linear model of production and consumption. China’s long-term renewable energy plan, in 2006, aimed at producing 44 billion m3 of biogas per year by 2020 This plan mandated municipalities to use mono and co-digestion of food waste with other organic feedstocks. The implementation of biogas plants in China, the US, Canada, UK, Japan, Australia, and South Korea was successful, some countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam still have had problems commercializing the AD technology This is technically due to the lack of source segregate collection infrastructure, weak national policies, expertise, and knowledge in the AD process. Recent literature and governmental reports suggest that the following three factors are driving forces for shifting a country from conventional to AD based waste management strategies: Governmental incentives and discouragements (e.g., carbon credits, nutrient credits, and tipping fees major); Energy expense reductions (renewable electricity production tax credit, RHI, RIN, and FIT); Environmental benefits. Odor complaints; Noise complaints; Need for abundant water resources for biogas digesters; Lack of access to adequate water; Pollution
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