Illinois Street Residence Hall Grind2Energy Tour
Members from the ISC, ZeroWaste Interns, as well as Daphne Hulse and Codie Sterner attended a tour of the Illinois Street Residence Halls and their Grind2Energy system today.
Members from the ISC, ZeroWaste Interns, as well as Daphne Hulse and Codie Sterner attended a tour of the Illinois Street Residence Halls and their Grind2Energy system today.
Sarthak Prasad shared 2018 notes from conversations held with stakeholders at The Ohio State University, West Lafayette (Purdue University), Bevier Cafe (University of Illinois), US Army Corps -- Champaign, and Michigan State University -- East Lansing on the topic of anerobic digesters. Attached are the notes. The document will continue to grow as more conversations occur.
Sarthak Prasad, Jen Fraterrigo, and Daphne Hulse intend to pursue conversations with campuses that have successfully installed anaerobic digesters. Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University have been identified as the first campuses to initiate a conversation with. The goal of these conversations will be to understand how campuses achieved momentum and will for the digesters to be financed and built (stakeholders include but are not limited to farmers, relevant academic departments, crop sciences, digester operators, waste management and sustainability, organic waste haulers, researchers).
From: Zach Hansen <zhansen@na.com>
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 10:16 AM
To: Varney, Pete <pvarney@illinois.edu>; Sinn, Macie <sinn1@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Food Composting
Sounds great!
Daphne, if you are interested in getting more information on this solution, my counterparts in California has worked closely together on a number of projects with them so I could set up a call.
Thanks and I hope you all had a great weekend!
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From: Varney, Pete <pvarney@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 9:01 AM
To: Zach Hansen <zhansen@na.com>; Sinn, Macie <sinn1@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Food Composting
Coincidence?
Daphne just discussed composting with me last week and it is of importance to her. I’ll let her take the lead on this if she wishes to follow-up.
Thank you,
Pete
(217) 333-7583
From: Zach Hansen <ZHansen@na.com>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2023 4:37 PM
To: Varney, Pete <pvarney@illinois.edu>; Sinn, Macie <sinn1@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: Food Composting
Hi Pete, Macie, and Daphne,
Completely unrelated to the F&S meetings that we have been having, but I wanted to bring this to your attention.
If there are increases in demand for composting around the facilities like cafeterias, housing, even athletics, this was a pretty cool machine that seems incredibly easy to use and composts food scraps in 5 days!
https://info.waxie.com/for-solutions
Have a great weekend!
Zach
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From: Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2023 9:52 AM
To: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>; Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Compost Bin in Urbana
Hi Shreya,
Please also contact Susan Monte at Champaign County Environmental Stewards to collaborate on this work: smonte@ccenvstew.com
Here is their website: https://www.ccenvstew.com/
Cassie
Cassie Carroll
Marketing & Communications Director
Smart Energy Design Assistance Center
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1 St. Mary’s Road, Champaign, IL 61820
217-300-6477
F&S is looking into local composting options for the green food truck program.
From: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 2:33 PM
To: Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Compost Bin in Urbana
Hi Shreya,
Here is more information about this program.
Stacy
From: Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 1:57 PM
To: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
Subject: Compost Bin in Urbana
Hi Stacy,
From our meeting on July 24, you mentioned that Urbana has a compost bin that is designed to take waste from commercial businesses. I was talking with my team, and it would be great if we implemented a system that collected compostable materials and food waste from food trucks. Would you happen to have more information about this site?
Thanks,
Shreya Mahajan
Sarthak Prasad and Daphne Hulse attended an in-person TEACH AD workshop at the Healthy Lifestyle Hub in Chicago to learn about the anaerobic digesters installed at Green Era Campus in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.
Attendance: Tyler Swanson, Daphne Hulse, Meredith Moore, Sarthak Prasad, Shawn Maurer, Joy Scrogum, Justin Holding, Paul Foote, Shreya Mahajan, Brent Lewis, Jason Ensign, Tim Mies, Colleen Ruhter, Jonathon Mosley, Marcello, Thurman Etchison, Morgan White, Damon McFall, Robert Roman
Marcello’s second question: Takeaway for the old feasibility study?
CHP, CNG or renewable natural gas are what Marcello is familiar with
Next steps: Marcello will work on an updated feasibility study.
Dana Kirk, Associate Professor at Michigan State University, presented a webinar on May 31, 2022 titled "Universities go green! A case study from the Michigan State University South Campus Anaerobic Digester", which also featured Marcello Pibiri, Senior Research Engineer at Energy Resources Center UIC.
In case you missed the live webinar or if you would like to view the recorded session again, go to https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/7048417514261610508. You can register with your name and email to watch the recording. Also attached is the presentation by Dana Kirk from this webinar.
Marcello and his team at ERC organize the New Technical Education & Analysis for Community Hauling and Anaerobic Digesters (TEACH AD) Program to educate people about Anaerobic Digesters.
Landscape Recycling Center sells the product described below:
Stable-To-Soil Enhancer
(Formerly Mushroom Compost)
Up to 35-Gallon Bags/Containers: $7.25 | Bulk: $36/cubic yd
Light brown and very fine textured material that can retain manure odor for several weeks
Made from: Hardwood bark, straw material and horse manure from local stables that is composted into a high-quality finished product.
Applications: Natural fertilizer for non-food crop landscapes. Excellent source of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). In addition, manure returns organic matter and other nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and sulfur to the soil, building soil fertility and quality.
The Landscape Recycling Center tests for temperature, oxygen, and moisture monthly. They test for ph, metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and infectious bacteria in finished compost product annually. As food scrap makes its way through the process and we continue to test the final product, we will be able to observe any changes to these parameters.
To combat the issue of food waste, U of I Housing collaborated with F&S Utilities & Energy Services, Operations, Maintenance & Alterations, and environmental compliance. The committee researched various food waste options, including composting, pulpers, and grinder systems used for anaerobic digestion -- including Grind2Energy systems.
These operate similarly to an industrial garbage disposal. However, it uses significantly less water than the digester system, up to 90-95 percent less. Additionally, it does not send the waste directly to the sanitary sewer. The food waste is pumped into a 5000-6000 gallon tank located on the outside of the building it serves. A tanker truck empties the waste and takes it to the local sanitary district. The industrial-strength waste is processed in an anaerobic digester, where it undergoes treatment without oxygen. The methane produced is collected and used to generate electricity at the treatment plant.
Read more about Grind2Energy use on campus through the F&S Website or the PDF in the attached files!
Grind2Energy: Turning Campus Food Waste into Fuel
The 49,000 students educated at the University of Illinois can generate a lot of food waste. Most of it winds up in a landfill. But for students with a dining hall plan, food waste is ultimately turned into energy, helping the campus reduce its carbon footprint.
With the "Grind2Energy" system, food scraps are ground down and ultimately run through an anaerobic digester at the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District, producing methane that is used for fuel to power the plant. The system was installed at Florida Avenue Residence Halls last fall, and others are in the works.
"Hopefully this small piece will be part of a bigger system down the road," said Thurman Etchison, Assistant Director of Housing Dining Services for Equipment and Facilities.
Ideas for recommendation related to post-consumer waste reduction, recommendations to continue in Spring semester
On November 12, 2018, Sarthak Prasad from Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) presented a Food Waste Management study to compare the current mode of food waste management (EnviroPure) with 7 other food waste management equipment.
He recommended the Housing at UofI switched from the EnviroPure systems to InSinkerator's Grind2Energy systems as food waste processing system, before sending the processed food waste (in slurry form) to the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District (UCSD) in Urbana, IL. UCSD's Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) has existing anaerobic digesters that can convert food waste into valuable biogas for electricity generation.
See attached the presentation in PDF form and the detailed cost analysis.
The CEE 398 Project Based Learning and the Sustainability Minor's ENVS 492 Capstone students completed their nine fall 2017 reports.
There were five projects completed for capstone partners:
There were four other projects completed by CEE students:
Attached are the presentations prepared by the students in ENVS 301. The course syllabus is also attached.
From: Kenfield, Micah Charles
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 9:00 AM
Subject: SSC Spotlight in the Daily Illini
Good morning, team!
Some of you may have already seen this, but the Daily Illini gave some great coverage to the Coffee Ground Repurposing Project in today’s paper:
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/article_bd4b0c04-4381-11e4-93bc-0017a43b2370.html
Great job to all involved in the project, and a special thanks to Dr. Wander for her interview in the article.
All My Best,
Micah Kenfield
Program Advisor, Student Sustainability Committee
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
285 Illini Union, MC-384
The Coffee Ground Repurposing Project, spearheaded by University Housing, seeks to create a coffee ground recycling network on the University of Illinois campus. Rather than discarding used coffee grounds and sending them to a landfill, University Housing will offer used coffee grounds from the dining halls to the public for composting and re-use. The project has two main goals. First, the project will further minimize the amount of food items being directed to the landfill from University Dining Halls. Second, and more importantly, the program will be an educational tool to demonstrate to UIUC students how nearly every item they dispose of has an alternative use as opposed to being sent to the landfill.