Food & Flora Waste to Fleet Fuel: Development and Application of the F⁴ Framework
As cities strive for more sustainable transportation systems, many are considering renewable fuels for fleets. Biogas has several advantages as an alternative fuel. Composed primarily of methane, it can be cleaned for use in natural gas vehicles, or burned in a turbine/engine to generate electricity for electric vehicles. Biogas can reduce air pollutant emissions from fleet vehicles; in addition, if wastes are used to produce the biogas in digesters, the problem of urban wastes is reduced. Many cities already have anaerobic digesters that convert sewage sludge at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to biogas. Because of its abundance in landfilled waste (22%), food waste is of current critical concern to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Yard (flora) waste comprises an additional 7.8% of waste going to landfills. Both food and yard waste could be used to boost biogas production in WWTP digesters. If a city/region is considering enhancing existing WWTP infrastructure to accommodate food/yard waste, several critical questions arise: (1) Which existing digesters are the best candidates to produce vehicle fuel from food/yard waste? (2) How much fuel will be produced? (3) What will be the payback time for capital investments? The overall project goal is to facilitate food/yard waste conversion to vehicle fuel, and help cities/regions answer the questions above, via development of the “Food/Flora Waste to Fleet Fuel” (F⁴) Framework. The F⁴ Framework will include: (1) Tools for input data collection, (2) Food/Flora-Waste-to Fleet Fuel Basic Tool, (3) F⁴ Optimization Extension, (4) Food/Flora Waste Separation Policy Survey and City Guidebook. The Basic F⁴ Tool estimates fuel produced and emission benefits. To select optimal WWTP digesters for converting food/yard waste to fuel, the Optimization Extension balances trade-offs between food/yard waste transportation costs and capital costs for expanding digesters, cleaning gas/generating electricity, and installing refueling stations. The F⁴ Framework was used to conduct an example feasibility study for the City of Dallas, Texas.
- Record URL:
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Supplemental Notes:
- This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
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Corporate Authors:
Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions & Dollars (CTEDD)
University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington, TX United States 76019Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- Hyun, Kate
- Bhatt, Arpita
- Anjomani, Ardeshir
- Krejci, Caroline
- Chen, Victoria
- Chakraborty, Mithila
- Raven, Nic
- Behseresht, Ali
- Publication Date: 2020-8-31
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Edition: Final Report
- Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 85p
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Alternate fuels; Biomass fuels; Case studies; Feasibility analysis; Food; Fuel processing; Optimization; Pollutants; Sewage treatment; Waste products (Materials)
- Geographic Terms: Dallas (Texas)
- Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General);
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01776540
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: CTEDD 019-16
- Contract Numbers: 69A3551747134
- Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
- Created Date: Jul 14 2021 1:43PM