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Anaerobic Digestion: A prime solution for water,

energy, and food nexus challenges

Ismail Haltas, James Suckling, Iain Soutar,

Angela Druckman, Liz Varga

Presented by Ismail HALTAS, Ph.D., P.E.

1st International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Resource Use in Food Chains, ICSEF 2017, 19-20 April 2017, Berkshire, UK

1. WEF Nexus and Challenges

2. Anaerobic Digestion Innovation

3. AD Innovation for WEF Nexus

4. AD Operations in UK

5. Agent Based Modelling of AD Operations

6. AD ABM - Decision Support Tool

7. Summary

1st International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Resource Use in Food Chains,

ICSEF 2017, 19-20 April 2017, Berkshire, UK 2

Content


The Water-Energy-Food Nexus describes the complex and inter-related nature of our resources systems.

It is about balancing different resource user goals and interests – while maintaining the integrity of ecosystems, optimizing the overall benefit and securing the sustainability.

WEF nexus approach is considered especially crucial in the context of adaptation responses to the climate change and human population growth.

The challenges at the water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus require an ensemble of diverse solutions, in which each solution must be economically, socially and environmentally viable and sustainable.




Funded by EPSRC Research Grant EP/N00583X/1

3 year project timeline 2015 - 2018.

Aims to explore the potential opportunities of innovations in the WEF Nexus, and understand the implications and challenges of achieving transformational change at different scales.

The four innovations central to our research are: Diversion of surplus food, Anaerobic Digestion, Food Valorisation, Insect Proteins


4

STEPPING UP Project

http://steppingupnexus.org.uk/




Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the breakdown of organic material by micro-organisms in the absence of oxygen.



7

AD Plant

Energy Crops

Methane Digestate

Domestic & Industrial Food

Waste

Crop Residues

Offset: fossil methane/transport fuels. Grid balancing of renewables.

Avoid landfill. Reduce waste treatment costs.

Odour control. GHG emission reduction from raising animals.

Virtual water burden. Potential for integrated farming practices.

Slurry Residues

Offset: fossil based fertiliser Source of nitrogen and phosphorus. Soil organic carbon return (water run-off control).

Sewage Sludge

Prevention of pollution.

Energy from “unused” part of crop (although may be ploughed back in).

Power/ Heat / Water

Transport

Power




1.Entrepreneurial

activities

2.Knowledge

development

3.Knowledge

exchange

4.Guidance of the

search

5.Formation of

markets

6.Mobilization of

resources

7.Counteracting

resistance

Actors Engaged across Multiple Functions of AD Innovation



9

Articulation and appraisal of governance arrangements is critical if we are to understand the human factors shaping current and future WEF systems

Governance as

Actors (i.e. the individuals, households, communities, firms, government departments, regulators and other organizations with interest or influence)

their institutions (e.g. the norms, rules, conventions and values shaping the behaviour of such actors)

and their practices (i.e. the actions of actors, such as consumption behaviours or processes of policy making) influence outcomes in systems

Articulating governance



10

There is active learning within academia/industry in terms of AD optimization, although this is somewhat fragmented and context-specific, which limits transferability of findings

Incoherence with overarching vision of energy system at Government level, reduction in subsidies

Tension between diversity and incoherence within AD sector, diverse interests within AD sector can be difficult to reconcile

Barriers for AD growth from Governance Perspective

4. AD in the UK

540 plants in 2016 (increase of 27% over 2015)

708 MWe

2 TWh biomethane injected into grid

35 TWh potential output (4-12% UK gas needs in 2050)

Support through subsidies (FiT, RHI, RO) but these are

diminishing.

New plants projection for 2018 between 10 – 40.



708 MWe 2 TWh biomethane 540 plants

4. AD in the UK



0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Number of AD Plants over time

4. AD in the UK



5. Agent Based Modelling of AD

An Agent Based Model (ABM) is bottom up approach for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents with a view to assessing their effects on the system.

Advantages of ABM compared to traditional models

(i) captures emergent phenomena;

(ii) provides a natural environment for the study of certain systems; and

(iii) provides flexibility in the model setting.

ABM allows the disaggregation of systems into individual components that can potentially have their own characteristics and rule sets.



Agent Based Modelling


Each of agents can possess rules that will affect their behaviour and relationships with other agents and/or their surrounding environment.

Environments define the space in which agents operate, serving to support their interaction with the environment and other agents.

ABM requires verification calibration and validation steps.

Implementation of the ABM is done through some standalone software (e.g. NetLogo, AnyLogic) or toolkits after the conceptualization.



Agent Based Modelling cont.




ID Description 1 House 2 Farm

3 Wastewater Treatment Plant

4 Food Factory 5 Restaurant 6 Food Store 7 Slaughterhouse 8 Municipal

ID Description S/L 1 Food Waste from Houses Solid 2 Green Waste from Houses Solid 3 Green Waste from Municipality Solid 4 Energy Crops From Farms Solid 5 Crop Residues from Farms Solid 6 Slurry from Farms Liquid

7 DAF sludge from Wastewater Treatment Facility Liquid 8 Food Waste from Food Factories Solid 9 Food Waste from Restaurants Solid

10 Food Waste from Food Stores Solid

11 Animal by-products (Category III) from Slaughterhouses Solid



18

Scale

Case Studies

I/O

, Bu

sin

ess

Mo

del

, Mo

tiva

tio

n

6. AD ABM – Decision Support Tool


21

AGENT BASED MODEL MULTI CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS

identify robust

solutions to uncertainty

Engage stakeholders to develop WEF criteria

ABM parameters

Determine preference of the candidate solutions/alternatives. Use MCDA method (TOPSIS or GA) based candidate solutions being known/unknown.

Assess the robustness of preferred solutions under uncertain future scenarios

Evaluates Objectives

Input Database (Initial Conditions)

Agents

Model Output (Indicators)

Simulation

Events

Actions

Para

met

ers

Vari

able

s

Beh

avio

ur

Ru

les

7. Summary

The challenges at the water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus require a palette of diverse solutions, in which each solution must be economically, socially and environmentally viable and sustainable.

Anaerobic Digestion Innovation is one of the promising solutions to alleviate the pressure on the WEF systems.

The lack of interconnectivity between water, food and energy systems is frequently framed as a governance issue and one of the major barrier for AD innovation.

A simulation and decision support tool such as AD ABM – DS is expected to help better understanding the dynamics of this complex system and its barriers.



Thank you for your attention

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