The anaerobic process employed in the facility has several unique features that set it apart from other similar processes such as those employed traditionally at municipal sewage treatment facilities as well as aerobic composting technologies marketed by competitors. These features include the following: Ø A dry anaerobic digestion operation, comprised of a 30% to 40% solid content versus less than 5% for the typical wet anaerobic operation; Ø Utilization of thermophilic methanogenic microbes functioning at a temperature of about 140ºF versus the traditional mesophilic temperature operation of under 100ºF; Ø Employment of a feedback mechanism to inoculate fresh waste material in order to accelerate the digestion time and impart stability into the process; Ø Use of a biofilter to treat the air within the totally enclosed facility so as to reduce the release of odors, dust and other nuisance or air polluting emissions to the environment well below objectionable levels; Ø Ability to utilize food wastes, sludges, manure and other biowastes to produce pathogen free compost in a relatively short period of time; Ø Extremely compact design in terms of land requirements - one acre of industrially zoned land - with a fully contained operation with respect to the emissions of odors, air or water pollutants to the neighboring environment; and Ø Maximizing of the benefits obtained from processing the solid wastes and minimizing the impact on the environment. Each standard facility is very compact in size requiring less than one acre of land comprised of 15,000 ft² for buildings and structures and up to 20,000 ft² of other land use. Each facility is totally contained in terms of operations, including odors, noise, as well as air, water and solid pollution. Each facility is ideally suited to service a community with a total population of about 100,000 persons and about 40,000 households and commercial establishments. |