Mechanical engineering Assistant Professor Jennifer Mott Peuker was awarded a project grant as part of the ASHRAE Decarbonization Challenge.
Her project, “Sustainable Energy from Organic Waste: Anaerobic Decomposition and Thermoelectric Generation at Cal Poly SLO,” was one of nine projects chosen out of 43 applications from around the world.
Project Description
The project goal is to design and build a small-scale anaerobic decomposer that is connected to a thermoelectric generator and a light or other electricity using device. This demo unit will show that food and organic waste produces biowaste that can create useful power and heat. The demo unit will be in coordination with an educational campaign on the university campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo about the possibilities of using organic waste to create carbon-neutral biogas. Pre-consumer food waste is already composted at Kompogas-SLO, a local company that has an anaerobic digester that then uses the created biogas in their generator to produce electricity. However, at Cal Poly, post-consumer waste is not collected and composted because of the contamination of noncompostable items. The educational component of the campaign aims to inform the campus community about the benefits of properly separating waste and demonstrating how the produced energy can be used.
The finished demo unit will be on display at the Senior Project Expo at the end of May.
