World’s Largest Dry Fermentation Anaerobic Digestion Facility Opens

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The world’s largest dry fermentation anaerobic digestion facility opened in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 22. It is built to process an estimated 90,000 tons of commercial organic waste that would have been directed to the landfill.
The facility, which is owned and operated by the Zero Waste Energy Development Company (ZWEDC), will convert wastes such as food scraps, yard waste and other compostable materials into 1.6 MW of energy and 32,000 tons of compost each year. The facility is the first large-scale commercial facility of its kind in the U.S. and will assist San Jose in achieving its goal of zero waste to landfill by 2022, one of 10 goals that comprise the city’s Green Vision.
“As the world center of innovation, San Jose is a proud and fitting home for this innovative waste-to-energy facility,” said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, in a statement. “This represents another significant step forward in our city’s efforts to divert 100 percent of our waste from landfills and receive all of our energy from clean, renewable resources. I thank ZWEDC for its investments and its ongoing partnership to help San Jose achieve its ambitious Green Vision goals.”
San Jose has already implemented a dry/wet collection system for businesses and has tripled the commercial recycling rate to 70 percent. While ZWEDC already composts food wastes, the dry fermentation anaerobic digestion facility goes a step further by allowing the company to extract energy value from wastes.
ZWEDC selected the patented anaerobic digestion technologies of Zero Waste Energy (ZWE) because the technology required little water and energy.
“We’re doing what nature does, very efficiently in a controlled way,” said Eric Herbert, CEO of ZWE, in a statement. “The significance of this facility is the demonstration of this technology in the U.S. on a major commercial scale. But organic waste and its proper treatment and green energy is what this project is all about.”

The facility includes 16 anaerobic digesters and four in-vessel composting tunnels. The natural biological process of dry fermentation anaerobic digestion allows bacteria to break down organic matter in an oxygen-free environment, according to ZWE.
“This project demonstrates the potential for other cities in California and the nation,” Herbert said. “We hope that by seeing an organic waste stream become a source of renewable energy at this magnitude, people will recognize the role organic waste and this technology can have for renewable energy on a larger scale.”