2. Rationale
Thanks to
the work of the IEA Tasks on AD among other national and international networks,
the anaerobic digestion has made its way to become one of the standard
technologies in the treatment of organic waste, at least in Europe. A total of
115 plants have been identified with a treatment capacity of 1.5 Mio. TPY of
organic solid waste. During the last 5 years capacity was increased in average
by 50'000 TPY.
When it
comes to industrial waste water treatment, AD has achieved a break through world
wide. Over 1000 high rate digesters have been built world wide.
AD offers
the possibility to invest in a sustainable technology while reducing the organic
fraction in landfilling. Which has become compulsory by European law.
However,
there is a long way to go: The technology has to be introduced in the USA and
Canada, the Country with the highest waste production per capita. AD could also
offer a viable technology for developing countries which increasingly suffer
from uncontrolled dumping.