California company converts onion waste to power; payback on $9.5 million investment in six years

In California, Gills Onions, the largest onion processing company in  the US has debuted a microbial digestion technology that converts onion waste to methane, which will be used in a biomass-to-power system. The company said that up to 40 percent of the onion is wasted in processing, and the company said that it expects to save $700,000 on power bills and reduce carbon emissions by 30,000 tons with a pair of 300 kilowatt fuel cells that will provide up to 40 percent of the facilities power.  The project cost $9.5 million and was partially funded by $2.7 million from  the Southern California Gas Company. The company will save $400,000 per year in waste haulage and said that it expects payback on the investment in six years.

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