Top: HomeBiogas system uses food waste to generate gas for heating water in a commercial kitchen environment.

The Kibbutz Yagur in Northern Israel near Haifa is a beta testing site for an on-site commercial HomeBiogas system that converts 440 lbs/day (200 kg) of food waste, including meat, fish and dairy, into renewable gas for heating water used in the kitchen’s dishwasher. The food waste is generated by the communal kitchen and the communal dining room used by residents of the kibbutz. It goes into a grinder, which automatically feeds it into the 3,700-gallon digester tank. The quantity of biogas generated also could produce up to 200 kWh/day of electricity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1 ton/day. Previously, about 4 tons/month of food waste were hauled to the landfill.

The digester’s physical footprint is the equivalent of two parking spaces. Retention time in the digester, which operates at 95°F (35°C), is 50 days; pathogens are destroyed as part of the process. The digester is heated using residual heat from its mixing pump. Fifty gallons/day of biofertilizer are discharged into a tank. The fertilizer is applied to trees on the kibbutz’s trails and a self-sustainable garden that surrounds the commercial system. There is hook-up to the sewer for emergency cases and for discharging unused fertilizer if necessary. HomeBiogas will be launching the commercial system for industrial kitchens in the United States in late 2022, after the beta phase is completed.