CHP system comes online at US food waste recycling plant

Decentralized Energy || December 19, 2017

A new combined heat and power (CHP) system at a US food waste recycling facility is now up and running, its developer has announced.

The 1.2 MW system at Quantum Biopower’s plant in the town of Southington, Connecticut was manufactured, packaged, installed and commissioned by 2G Energy Inc, a subsidiary of Germany’s 2G Energy AG.

The system will run on biogas produced by local food waste, which is processed at a rate of 40,000 tonnes per year at Quantum Biopower’s anaerobic digestion (AD) facility.

Its output will be used to power Southington’s municipal buildings.

Quantum Biopower said its plant, which is the first of its kind in the state, saves the equivalent of 5000 tonnes per year of CO2 emissions by recycling food waste into biogas. The facility also produces 8000 tonnes per year of premium organic compost as a residual byproduct of the digestion process.

“As more businesses and municipalities seek to find new ways to save money and to use renewable energy sources, CHP is continuing to expand in the US,” 2G Energy said in a statement, adding that it is "playing an integral part in that growth, using decades of experience in CHP internationally”.