Feasibility Study of Food Waste Co-Digestion at U.S. Army Installations

Army Net Zero is a comprehensive approach to preserve natural resources by focusing on energy, water, and waste at Army installations. Army Directive 2014-02, Net Zero Installations Policy set policy and assigned responsibility to strive toward Net Zero at all Army installations, wherever fiscally responsible. As part of its greater vision of strategic sustainability, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, seeks to meet Army Net Zero objectives. The Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) at Fort Huachuca is the focus of the net zero waste project discussed here. The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL), with collaboration from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designed a study to evaluate the feasibility of food waste co-digestion at Fort Huachuca. The study was designed to (1) reduce the amount of organic material going to landfill, (2) reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and (3) produce renewable energy. From this work, team members concluded that co-digestion of food and biosolids would be a win-win scenario for Fort Huachuca because it would help eliminate the largest part of the waste stream (food), reduce biosolids disposal costs, and generate power for operating the installations WWTP.