Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Ruihong Zhang, a UC Davis engineering professor, pioneered the digester technology, which can accept a higher ratio of solid waste than any other digester on the market. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
About 200 people gather for the opening of UC Davis’ biodigester, which will process the campus’ organic waste into electricity and fertilizer. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
Rep. John Garamendi, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, CleanWorld CEO Michele Wong, UCD engineering professor Ruihong Zhang and others shovel food scraps into the biodigester in a symbolic opening ceremony Tuesday morning. The digester is currently running at 20 percent capacity. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
CleanWorld operator Jeremy Bunch points to the largest of the biodigester’s cylinders, which can hold 250,000 gallons of waste. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
The gas pipes to the microturbine generators are designed to collect condensation and recycle it back into the system. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
The UC Davis Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester opens on Earth Day. It will process all of UC Davis’ food and agriculture leftovers into electricity for the campus and fertilizer ingredients that potentially will be used by surrounding farmers. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo