Cornell researchers combine hydrothermal liquefaction with anaerobic digestion

In New York state, researchers at Cornell are combining hydrothermal liquefaction with anaerobic digestion in order to boost the energy production while reducing the processing time for treating food waste. The FAO estimates 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted or lost every year. The hydrothermal liquefaction produces a biocrude in just a few minutes that can be refined into fuel and then the remaining aqueous byproduct from the process is used in the anaerobic digester, producing biogas in just days instead of weeks.