Waste-to-Energy Systems

Ongoing Projects / Areas of Research

Market and Regulatory Barriers and Opportunities

• Air pollutant and odorous emissions management strategies for dry anaerobic digestion, including emissions during biogas flaring
• Market analysis of carbon dioxide utilization from carbon dioxide capture and sequestration project

Logistics and Power and Resource Generation Options Analysis

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Technoeconomic Analysis (TEA) of scaling up of food waste, yard waste, and manure utilization for anaerobic digestion and electricity generation
• Geospatially and temporally resolved organic waste inventories for California
• Identification of appropriate densification, storage, and conversion technologies for organic waste types available in California
• Feasibility of utilizing biogas and organic residue for distributed generation, and district energy systems, across California
• Brine and wastewater utilization management pathways from oil and gas industry and carbon dioxide sequestration projects

Circular Economy and end-of- life optimization: 

• Valorizing waste streams and by-products of energy technologies and developing cost-competitive, sustainable management pathways
• Supporting smarter design and resource recovery through design and business model evaluation