The Food Production

The amount of waste in food production is disconcerting for meeting the planet’s growing food needs. Experts predict the world’s population will exceed nine billion by 2050. And with rising incomes around the globe, more people are eating foods that were once considered luxuries, like meats and cheeses. Increasing food production through using green technology to make the process more efficient can help feed a hungry world.

Increasing food production sustainability means making better use of the land which are already set aside for agriculture. But this should not come at the cost of the environment. Incorporating renewable energy sources into agriculture can help increase the amount of food we produce while preserving the planet. Agriculture is currently projected to obtain a 17% by 2020 reduction in GHG (Green House Gas) emissions, partly due to decreasing use of fertilizers and increasing productivity.

Tanigawa, S. (2017, October 3). Fact Sheet | Biogas: Converting Waste to Energy [Graph]. Eesi. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-biogasconverting-waste-to-energy

Since agriculture can be designed to maximize the production of both food as well as biomass that can be converted to energy, bioenergy has a special role to play in energy-smart food systems. The renewable energy associated with food systems may also be harnessed to deliver energy services, such as lighting and communication that can improve local education and health services and raise the quality of life for individual families.

According to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), one-third of all food produced globally goes to waste each year, which makes up a total of 1.3 billion tons of wasted food with a value of more than $1 trillion. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the risk of pollution to waterways, organic waste can be removed and used to produce biogas, a renewable source of energy. When displacing fossil fuels, biogas creates further emission reductions, sometimes resulting in carbon negative systems.

Anaerobic Digestion

One of a source of peak power that could rapidly ramped up known as biogas. Biogas is produced through anaerobic digestion of organic waste or biomass and can then be burned to produce electricity or heat. There are four main stages of anaerobic digestion that is performed inside the digester – hydrolysis, fermentation, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis. Each stage involves different anaerobic bacteria and form different end products, however the final products are methane, carbon dioxide, and fertilizers.

The produced biogas consists of 60-70% methane, 30-40% carbon dioxide, and some other gases such as hydrogen, ammonia, carbon monoxide and sulphur gases depending on the sludge consistency. The biogas is a natural source of energy and its production relies on natural processes. The food waste is placed in digestion tanks where it is broken down by microorganisms in an oxygen-free environment. During the decomposition process, the microorganisms release methane gas which helps to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Pre-treatment methods of lignocellulosic biomass for anaerobic digestion. (2017,March 28). [Photograph]. Springer Open. https://amb-express.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13568-017-0375-4/figures/2

Waste materials often have high water content that reduces their potential for combustion processes because the energy required to dry the materials exceeds the value of the energy recoverable through combustion. Anaerobic digestion reduces both the volume and mass of the waste materials, and typically produces a product that is readily dewatered. Anaerobic digesters are used vastly as a source of renewable energy. The produced biogas has applications in fuel production in combined heat and power gas engines, or upgraded to natural gas-quality biomethane

Reasons for doing Anaerobic Biogas include the obstacles such as the legislative framework and the lack of economic incentives for potential investors. Countries like Denmark, Germany, Austria and Sweden promote effective mechanisms to produce biogas from organic wastes by political measurements. There are a number of challenges facing energy from waste projects, even for the established technologies, and these need to be overcome for the sector to expand.

Toward to a better Path

A few key ways to start making a difference at home are:

1. Buy only as much food as you eat. One of the easiest ways to help conserve energy in food production is to waste less. It’s estimated that 40 percent of food in the U.S. goes uneaten. In 2017, that added up to 38 million tons of food waste. As a comparison, that’s the weight of 38 million polar bears, 5.5 million elephants, or nearly 300,000 blue whales.
2. Buy food that is locally sourced. Shop at local farmers’ markets instead of buying produce at the grocery store. You’ll be supporting local farmers and saving the energy needed to transport perishable foods from across the world.
3. Invest in energy-efficient food storage. Get an EnergyStar refrigerator, which use 20%-30% less energy. Also, keep your refrigerator fully stocked. If you don’t have enough food, keep containers of water in there instead.

 How to invest in a sustainable food future. (2013, June 20). [Photograph]. Greenbiz https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-invest-sustainable-food-future

The use of RE and energy storage is becoming crucial for providing electricity or thermal energy in peak periods. Although typical and new trends in energy efficiency for food processing appear to represent promising pathways to decarbonize the food processing sector, the actual implementation is still limited. Proper policies must be developed to better encourage to users to adopt energy efficiency strategies.

References

1. Banks, C. J., Chesshire, M., Heaven, S., & Arnold, R. (2011). Anaerobic digestion of source-segregated domestic food waste: Performance assessment by mass and energy balance. Bioresource Technology, 102(2), 612–620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.08.005
2. Bustamante, M., Robledo-Abad, C., Harper, R., Mbow, C., Ravindranat, N. H., Sperling, F., Haberl, H., de Siqueira Pinto, A., & Smith, P. (2014). Co-benefits, trade-offs, barriers and policies for greenhouse gas mitigation in the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector. Global Change Biology, 20(10), 3270–3290. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12591
3. Waste management. (n.d.). European Environment Agency. Retrieved May 31, 2021, from https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-management
4. European Compost Network. (2020, August 13). Bio-Waste in Europe. https://www.compostnetwork.info/policy/biowaste-in-europe/

5. Suwannarat, J., & Ritchie, R. J. (2015). Anaerobic digestion of food waste using yeast. Waste Management, 42, 61–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2015.04.028

6. Dr. Faiz M Bhutta. (2018, September 1). More Alternative Energy Resources. Altenergymag. https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2018/01/role-of-renewable-energy-in-sustainable-agriculture-and-food-security/27677