Why is Anaerobic Digestion useful?
Anaerobic digestion is useful for the following reasons: • Waste disposal: Anaerobic digestion gets rid of waste in a useful way. The waste might otherwise end up in a landfill site. Anaerobic digestion facilities can be large or small: they can be used on farms for waste disposal and power generation, or can used on large municipal sites to process organic waste from industry and homes. • Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions: The methane produced during AD is burned as fuel, and therefore releases CO2 into the atmosphere. Because it comes from biomass, this does not contribute to climate change. However, if the same waste was left to degrade in a landfill site, the methane produced could escape into the atmosphere: methane has a global warming potential 23 times larger than that of CO2. Therefore, harvesting and using methane from biomass can help to prevent climate change. • Fuel production: Anaerobic digestion produces biogas, which can be burned to supply heat and electricity, use
