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EISENMANN ISENMAN Clean Air & Energy Technology Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion An Overview of how one Urban Farm is Fighting the Food Desert Epidemic by Utilizing Anaerobic Digestion to Create a Net-Zero Energy System EISENMANN Corporation [email protected] www.eisenmann.com/usa815.455.4100 Table of Contents Defining a Food Desert Major Implications Identifying Current Initiatives Local Efforts Building The Plant Using Anaerobic Digestion Renewable Energy at The Plant Choosing Eisenmann Technology The Anaerobic Digester at The Plant The Eisenmann Advantage 1 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 List of Exhibits 1 - USDA Food Desert Definition 2 - USDA Map of Food Desert in the US 3 - City of Chicago: Urban Agriculture Zoning Code Amendment 4 - The Plant Operations Diagram 5 - The Plant Building Rendering 6 - Anaerobic Digestion Phases 7 - Renewable Energy Process Flow Diagram 8 - Rendering of The Plant’s Anaerobic Digester 9 - Eisenmann Biogas Key Data at The Plant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 Appendices 1 - The Plant’s Major Milestones 2 - Benefits of The Plant and the Anaerobic Digestion System 3 - Organic Input Substrates and Biogas Yield 4 - About Eisenmann Corporation www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion 10 10 11 12 EISENMANN Defining a Food Desert Many urban areas face a significant problem with older, industrial distressed neighborhoods. These neighborhoods, often historically a booming industrial area, have now become sore spots, both visually and economically on a city. The residents in these areas more often that not, suffer from things such as a lack of available jobs and a lack of available fresh produce and food options. These areas, where there is a lack of fresh, healthy, affordable food, have become known as food deserts. The US Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food (Exhibit 1)1. The estimated 23.5 million Americans that live in these areas experience physical and economic barriers to accessing healthy foods, including the availability of nutritious foods, the affordability of foods, or just a lack of access to food retailers (Exhibit 2) Exhibit 1 USDA Food Desert Definition “low-income census tract where a substantial number or share of residents have low access to a supermarket or large grocery store” “Low-income community” Qualifications: - poverty rate of 20% or higher OR - median family income at or be low 80% of the area median family income “Low-access community Qualifications: - at least 500 people and/or at least 33% of the tract population reside more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (in rural areas the distance increases to ten miles) Major Implications The major impact of these food deserts is the affect on the local populations. In a USDA report to Congress, it was noted that increases in obesity and diet-related diseases are major health problems and that these problems may be worse in some US communities where access to affordable and nutritious foods is difficult.2 This lack of access contributes directly to poor diets which can lead to obesity. However, even knowledge of good nutrition and the best of intentions cannot provide the access needed to affordable, healthy foods in these communities. 1 US Department of Agriculture, www.usda.gov 2 US Department of Agriculture, Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences, http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ap/ap036/ap036.pdf -1www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Exbibit 2 - US Department of Agriculture Map of Food Deserts in the USA Identifying Current Initiatives There are several initiatives in place to address the food desert epidemic. On the national level, programs such as Let’s Move, a federal government program working in conjunction with the USDA, is dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity, providing parents with helpful information that support healthy choices, and ensuring that every family has access to healthy affordable food.1 As part of this initiative, the Departments of Agriculture, Treasury, and Health and Human Services are working together to expand the availability of nutritious foods by connecting producers and consumers. Currently, 19 grant opportunities are available through these three departments that support the development of substainable programs and strategies seeking to eliminate food deserts. These programs aim to assist local and state governments, non-profit organizations, institutions, businesses, and residents in affected communities. The goal is to increase access to healthy food, which will improve public health, create jobs, help revitalize distressed communities, and open new markets for farmers to sell their products. Programs such as the USDA’s Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program and Farmer’s Market Promotion Program have already led to advances in cities such New York City and Detroit. 1 Let’s Move, www.letsmove.gov -2www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Local Efforts Cities and communities are also taking action in their own neighborhoods. Local grant programs and city ordinances are being developed and passed which have resulted in many local programs such as farmer’s markets, community gardens, local food production and promotion, alternative agriculture such as hydroponics and aquaponics, youth agriculture, and culinary training programs. One such ordinance, the Urban Agriculture Zoning Code Amendment in the City of Chicago, encourages more urban farming (Exhibit 3). This new zoning code will promote the expansion of community gardening and urban agriculture within the city boundaries by legalizing urban farming of vegetables, fruits, and fish and will permit owners to sell what they raise. With a goal of eliminating food deserts in disadvantaged areas of the city, there is hope this ordinance will create green jobs and fresh produce across the city. In an article on its website, Sustainable Chicago says that there are financial and social benefits to urban agriculture including a renewable food source, better health and nutrition options, increased incomes, employment, and a community social life.1 Exhibit 3 Urban Agriculture Zoning Code Amendment - City of Chicago New zoning code provisions: - Expand the size limit on community gardens to 25,000 square feet - Relax fencing and parking requirements on larger commercial urban farms in order to hold down overhead costs for entrepreneurs and community organizations that launch and maintain these enterprises - Allow for hydroponic and aquaponic systems and keeping honey bees under set conditions - Create green jobs and provide fresh produce in communities Local grants and the new zoning codes have resulted in the city’s first urban vertical farm, which is currently being developed in south Chicago. The project, known as The Plant, operates as both a non-profit and for-profit organization offering a vertical farm in a food desert and a food-business incubator in a distressed neighborhood. The organization will also focus on research and education but the most ambitious part of the entire thing is the renewable energy system that will make the building net-zero energy and completely self-sustaining. 1 Sustainable Chicago, New Ordinance Encourages More Urban Farming, http://www.sustainable-chicago.com/2011/09/28/new-ordincase-encourages-more-urban-farming/ -3www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Building The Plant What began as a 93,500 s.f. meatpacking facility in the Chicago stockyards, has now become The Plant, a net-zero energy vertical farm and food business operation. The Plant is dedicated to promoting sustainable food production, entreprenuership, and building reuse through research, education, and development (Exhibit 4). Exbibit 4 - The Plant Operations Diagram The following outlines the features and benefits of The Plant’s operation:1 Verticle Farm The Plant defines vertical farming as farming in multiple stories of a building and from floor to ceiling in a room. This provides planting of more layers of crops per square acre than a flat farming surface and provides a sustainable food source in an urban food desert. Future plans include the incorporation of living walls, planting a rooftop garden, and raising bees and potentially chickens. Aquaponics The basement of the old meatpacking plant is now home to an aquaponic ecosystem. This is the combination of a fish farm and plants growing in water without soil into an almost fully enclosed system that creates a symbiotic relationship. The fish, in this case Tilapia, produce ammonia-based waste that is filtered and broken down into nitrates. Those nitrates are fed to the vegetables in hydroponic beds which absord the nitrates and clean the water to be returned to the fish. The fish and vegetables will be sold to local food markets and restaurants. 1 The Plant Chicago, www.plantchicago.com 1 Let’s Move, www.letsmove.gov -4Sustainability in an Urban www.eisenmann.com/usa Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Food-Business Incubator Another intregral part of The Plant are the food businesses which currently include a beer brewery, kombucha tea brewery, bakery, mushroom farm, and a shared kitchen. In keeping with the theme, these businesses are all part of the interconnected, selfsustaining system where waste from one is used as food for another. For example, the grains from the brewery feed the tilapia and solid waste from the talipia will be fed to the mushrooms. This allows the businesses of The Plant to grow and prosper together, at low rent and low energy costs, while also creating 125 new, green jobs in a struggling community. Education and Research The Plant plans to host seminars for sustainability professionals, college students, school children, and the public on a wide range of topics including things such as energy and efficiency in buildings, obesity and healthy eating, and growing techniques. The goal is to touch as many people as possible to foster a new, sustainable direction in agriculture. Building Reuse By repurposing an abandoned food processing plant, the organization is combining manufacturing and growing plants indoors, both of which take a lot of energy and can be done in a sustainable way. The point is to act as an example that all kinds of closed industrial facilities and buildings can be repurposed to house many different kinds of manufacturing and growing systems. Renewable Energy The Plant aims to be a completely off the grid, closed loop system, that is net-zero enSystem ergy and self-sustaining. The building’s food businesses will provide the organic waste that will be turned into energy through an anaerobic digester and a repurposed jet engine acting as a combined heat and power unit. This, in turn, will provide the electricity and process heat needed by the businesses in the building. By using the organic waste to feed the digester, they will also successfully divert 5,000 tons of waste from landfills each year. Exbibit 5 - The Plant Building Rendering -5www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Using Anaerobic Digestion Anaerobic Digestion is the degradation and stabilization of organic material generating a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide (called Biogas) by bacteria in an oxygen free environment. The process occurs in four stages (Exhibit 6) and the result is several bi-products including biogas and both solid and liquid soil amendments. Exhibit 6 Anaerobic Digestion Phases: 1. Hydrolosis - The proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are broken down by bacteria into amino acids 2. Acidogenesis - The amino acids are transformed by acidogenic bacteria into short chain volital acids, ketones, alcohols, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide 3. Acetogenesis - The remaining acids are transformed by acetogenic bacteria into hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and acetic acid 4. Methanogenesis - The hydrogen and acetic acids are converted by methanogenic bacteria into methane gas and carbon dioxide Renewable Energy at The Plant As part of the renewable energy system, The Plant will be using an anaerobic digester combined with a combined heat and power (CHP) unit. This system will convert organic waste into biogas which will be released to the CHP to supply the building with heat and electricity. Funded in part by grant money from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the anaerobic digester will be installed behind the building. The system will consume 13 tons of food waste a day (roughly 5,000 tons annually). The waste will include all of the waste produced at The Plant as well as by neighboring food manufacturers. The digester will produce 2.2 million Btu per hour of biogas, which will be captured and burned in the CHP to produce 200kwH of electricity. This will also produce enough process heat needed by the brewery operations and to regulate the building’s temperature (Exhibit 7). -6www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Exbibit 7 - Renewable Energy System Process Flow Diagram Biowaste Conditioning Combined Heat and Power Generator Electrical Energy Seperator Thermal Energy Compost Main Digester Pump Compost Fertilizer Final Storage Tank Liquid Substrates Choosing Eisenmann Technology Eisenmann’s proprietary BIOGAS Green Waste technology uses anaerobic digestion to convert high solid waste organics to biogas. The BIOGAS-GW continuously mixed horizontal high solids anaerobic digestion system can handle a broad range of organic streams. This flexibility, a main reason The Plant chose Eisenmann technology, allows operators to receive a variety of wastes from a multitude of sources. The modular pre-engineered design of the BIOGAS-GW takes advantage of the latest in material handling and feedstock pre-processing tecnologies. A typical system includes multiple input channels to accept a range of feedstock and the ability to seperate unwanted contamination. The closed system design mitigates concern over odor. Eisenmann’s proprietary custom blended micro-nutrient additives assure that the system is always operating at peak health and extracting the most potential from the renewable energy feedstock. -7www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN The Anaerobic Digester at The Plant Eisenmann technology is a critical component to the success of the renewable energy sustainability at The Plant. The project, which will be completed in two phases, provides the most flexibility in feedstock in the smallest possible footprint (Exhibit 8). These were both key benefits for The Plant. Exbibit 8 - Rendering of The Plant’s Anaerobic Digester There are also other distinctive features that were beneficial to The Plant. The digester technology is a robust and durable design that offers a fully automated, continuous feed system. All substrates can be fed into the digerster without the need to slurry. The system handles a high dry matter content in which a variety of organic waste sources can be used including input substrates from: - Food processing facilities - Retaurants - Waste management facilities - Agriculture, yard waste and grass clippings The system custom designed for The Plant provided the desired input capacity resulting in the maximum output in the available footprint for an urban environment (Exhibit 9). Exbibit 9 - Eisenmann Biogas Key Data at The Plant Overall Footprint Input Offtake 80 ft. x 170 ft. 5,000 tons/year of organic waste 2.2 million Btu/hr of Biogas 200 kwH of electricity 1 ton/day of press-cake for composting 8 tons/day of liquid soil amendment (to replace fossil fuel based fertilizer) -8www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN The Eisenmann Advantage Eisenmann understands that success in the organic diversion/organic waste-to-energy market requires experience, resources, and end-to-end process knowledge of how to optimize front end flexibility, renewable energy generation and the value of co-products to achieve the best and most sustainable return on investments. Eisenmann’s technology is used in more than 90 biogas plants to date, ranging in processing size from 12 tons per day to over 160 tons per day as well as over 800 water treatment plants throughout the world. Working together with industry veterans and over 3,600 employees, Eisenmann offers the strength and experience of a global solutions provider combined with local experience in executing over 1000 projects in North America over the past 35 years. Phone: 815-455-4100 Email: [email protected] Web: www.eisenmann.us.com -9www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Appendix 1 - The Plant Milestones July 1, 2010 September 2010 October 2010 January 2011 February 2011 December 2011 March 2012 April/May 2012 June 2012 January 2013 Acquisition of building Begin Renovation First permanent tenant move in (Thrive Artesian Kombucha Teas) First kitchen/bakery operational Plant Chicago NFP was founded Purchase decision for Biogas Plant Installation of combined heat and power unit Finalizing of permitting for Biogas plant construction Begin construction of Biogas Plant Biogas plant startup Appendix 2 - Benefits of The Plant and the Anaerobic Digestion System - Sustainable urban agriculture in a food desert - Creation of 125 jobs in a distressed neighborhood - Repurposing of a 93.500 sq. ft. abandoned meat packing plant in Chicago’s “Back of the Yard” Neighborhood - Incubation of sustainable foods businesses offering low rent, low energy costs - Implementation of an aquaponics growing system - Creation of licensed shared kitchen rentals - Net-zero energy system, self-sustaining - Diversion of 5,000 tons of organic waste from landfills each year (Organic waste makes up 24% of materials sent to landfills in the US) - Reduction of Green House Gas emmissions by utilizing waste streams in onsite Biogas plant - Economic benefit by creating renewable energy for a microgrid - Use of digestate rather than fossil fuel based fertilizer - Reducing carbon footprint by eliminating waste collection truck traffic - 10 www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Appendix 3 - Organic Input Substrates and Biogas Yield Biogas Yields 200 Biogas Yield [m3/t fresh mass] 202 172 163 150 128 100 111 108 100 88 80 70 67 50 60 45 40 28 25 Be et Le av es Pr es se d Pu lp Pi g Ma nu re Ca ttl eM an ur e Gr ai n St ill Li ag qu e id Pi g Li M qu an id ur e Ca ttl e Ma nu re an ur e M Be et on Po ul t ry Co m m Bi ow as te Gr as s Fe ed in g Be Sw et ee tS or gh um ila ge Su da n Gr as sS pl an t) (w ho le Ry e Si la ge M aiz e Si la ge 0 Methane Content [%] Maize Silage Rye Silage (whole plant) Grass Silage Sudan Grass Feeding Beet Sweet Sorghum Biowaste Common Beet 52 54 52 55 51 54 61 53 Poultry Manure Beet Leaves Pressed Pulp Pig Manure Cattle Manure Grain Stillage Liquid Pig Manure Liquid Cattle Manure 60 54 72 60 60 61 65 60 Source: AEBIOM Roadmap to Biogas 2010 - 11 www.eisenmann.com/usa Sustainability in an Urban Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN Appendix 4 - About Eisenmann Corporation Eisenmann is a leading global industrial solutions provider with US headquarters based outside of Chicago, IL. Working closely with a variety of industries, Eisenmann has leveraged their global resources of over 3,600 employees and more than 60 years of experience to address the demand for solutions that lower operating costs and optimize plant operations. Today, the company remains a key player in the development of environmental technologies. They are a leading supplier of regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs) to the renewable fuels industry and have expanded their product portfolio to include a variety of renewable energy products and waste to energy solutions. Facts & Figures - Established in Stuttgart, Germany in 1951 - 12 locations worldwide - US location Crystal Lake, IL since late 70‘s - Global workforce of approx. 3,600 employees - More than 90 Biogas facilities built to date Eisenmann Offers: - Reference installations worldwide - Custom and modular solutions - Global services - Detailed system and process solutions - Top quality and reliability Eisenmann Specializes in: - Plant engineering - Highly flexible systems integration - Market and technology leader for individual components and entire systems - Service provider with a broad service offering Eisenmann is a Leading International Supplier of: - Paint finishing systems - Environmental technology - Material handling & conveyor systems - Process and high-temperature technology - 12 Sustainability in an Urban www.eisenmann.com/usa Environment through Anaerobic Digestion EISENMANN