Read the full story from DOE.
Cattle waste and wastewater. Sludgy grease ensconced in restaurant and cafeteria grease traps. Food waste—uneaten leftovers or culinary mistakes. Contrary to the lyrics in The Sound of Music, these aren’t a few of our favorite things.
But when paired with waste-to-energy (WtE) technology, these things can become downright energetic—in the form of biofuels. These organic wastes serve as potential biofuel feedstocks, and they are available just about anywhere across the nation. However, industry lacks information about the locations of greatest concentration so it can boost biofuel production while giving human health and the environment a helping hand.
To shed light on this uncertainty, a team of researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory performed a detailed analysis of these wastes’ potential for biofuel production on a site-specific basis across the conterminous United States.
The results of the team’s analysis were published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.
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