The University of California – Davis has initiated a research and technology demonstration facility dubbed the Biogas Energy Project which aims to turn tons of leftover and table scrap into clean and renewable energy for use in households and automobiles. Initially, the facility will process over eight tons of leftovers weekly sourced from premier restaurants around San Francisco. If all goes well, the project will eventually process about eight tons of leftover daily. Every ton of leftovers can produce enough energy to power 10 average California households in one day.

The Biogas Energy Project will demonstrate the technology developed by Ruihong Zhang (pictured), a UC Davis professor of biological and agricultural. Called the “anaerobic phased solids digester” has now been licensed and adapted for commercial use by Onsite Power Systems. This public-private alliance aims to reduce the amount of organic mater in landfills and convert them to clean energy.

The technology will produce two clean energy gases – hydrogen and methane which can be used to produce electricity and heat or to propel cars, trucks and buses.

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