Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Facility Study

The Regional Municipality of Peel (the Region)is undertaking a feasibility study to develop a new anaerobic digestion (AD) facility to meet its current and future needs of processing organic waste to achieve diversion targets, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and provide renewable energy. The AD Facility Study will investigate the optimum feedstock mix, specific technologies, and biogas, digestate and residue utilization and management options for the facility. The Region is planning to process all source separated household organics at the facility, as well as traditionally challenging waste streams such as diapers, sanitary products, pet waste, and non-biodegradable plastic bags as green bin liners. Currently, organics including food waste and leaf and yard waste are composted at composting facilities within the Region, which are operating at or near the design capacity. Once the AD facility is built, collection of organics may be expanded to include multi-residential buildings, commercial establishments participating in the Business Improvement Areas, and Agencies, Boards, Commissions and Departments including the public and separate school boards. Leaf and yard waste will continue to be composted at the composting facility, which was the subject of a previous GMF-funded feasibility study, GMF 12117, Improving Organic Waste Diversion through a Field Test of Greenbin-Derived Compost in the Region of Peel. The final product of the feasibility study will be an anaerobic digestion study report including a policy and market scan, biogas utilization servicing engineering study, and an odour control and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system engineering study. In 2014 the Region diverted 46% of their waste, and in 2015 they increased their target to 75% diversion by 2034. By enabling more aggressive source separated organics programs, the implementation of the AD Facility is expected to add an excess of 14% diversion, bringing the diversion rate to at least 60%. The region plans to use a Design-Build-Operate-Maintain contract structure for the procurement of the facility, and will decide as part of the feasibility study which components will stay under the region’s ownership. The project is in line with the Region’s Waste Reduction and Resource Recovery Strategy which covers a 20-year planning horizon from 2014 to 2034 with the stated mission to provide reliable, cost-effective, customer focused services that minimize waste generation and maximize resource recovery. It is also guided by the Region’s Energy and Environmental Sustainability Strategy which outlines a framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 by 2015. The AD Facility will reduce GHG emissions by generating a biogas as part of the digestion process which can be used for heating, electricity generation or upgraded to produce renewable natural gas, as opposed to methane which is produced from landfills. Digested waste (digestate), a by-product of anaerobic digestion, has a high nutrient content and can be used as fertilizer in lieu of fossil fuel based products. While anaerobic digestion is widely used for the treatment of wastewater biosolids, it is a relatively new approach for green bin organics in North America and offers a strong knowledge value. (Project description from original funding application)