University Completes Lifecycle Assessment of BioHiTech Digesters

BioHiTech Global announced the results of an independent lifecycle assessment (LCA) of its aerobic digester solution for food waste conducted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware.

The LCA was conducted in accordance with the ISO 14040 standards to enable a gate-to-grave comparative assessment of four possible food waste management systems: 

The results of the LCA demonstrate that BioHiTech's aerobic digester technology is an environmentally friendly alternative to the other means studied in the assessment. Specifically, "the disposal of food waste using BioHiTech's aerobic digestion system followed by the release of the effluent to the sewer is an environmentally favorable pathway," the study notes.

“This analysis conducted by the University of Delaware provides independent validation that our food waste digester technology is an environmentally responsible solution to the organics management issues facing the United States,” said Emily Dyson, director of research and development of BioHiTech, in a statement. “Through our focus on taking a practical approach to organics disposal, we have developed a solution that can be seamlessly integrated into the traditional waste management process to cost effectively dispose of food waste in an environmentally friendly manner.”

"BioHiTech has always championed waste management technology that is both economically viable and environmentally sound,” added Frank E. Celli, CEO of BioHiTech. “This LCA reinforces our long-held beliefs that aerobic digestion technology compares favorably from an environmental standpoint to other disposal methods. We believe that when you also factor in the ease of implementation, cost of processing and the valuable supply chain management data we provide, our digesters are the most practical organics solution available on the market today.”

Read the full lifecycle assessment here.