An apparatus is described which includes at least one reactor, at least one linear piston pump, the or each piston pump including a tube, a piston and an arm coupled to the piston, the or each piston pump arranged to inject feedstock to a respective reactor, a beam or plate coupled to the arm(s) of the piston pump(s) configured to linearly drive the piston(s) and a linear actuator for driving the beam or plate. The piston pump has a volume of at least 50 milliliters and an output port having a diameter of at least 5 mm.

A waste reduction system that utilizes organic solids suspended in a waste stream to produce carboxylic acids, which can then be employed as an input to a microbial fuel cell or other biological processes to further enhance biogas production, is provided. The organic waste stream influent undergoes a multistage fermentation process in which fermentative microorganism metabolize the organic waste materials and produce one or more carboxylic acids, especially short chain fatty acids. The carboxylic acids serve as a food source for bacteria within an anode compartment of an MFC that generates useable electricity therefrom.

A system comprising a collocated thermal plant, water source, CO.sub.2 source and biomass growth module is disclosed. A method of improving the environment by utilizing the system is disclosed.

A process for the production of a methane-enriched gas including the steps of providing a bioreactor having at least one device for supplying a gas, and at least one outlet for removing the methane-enriched gas generated in the bioreactor; providing a device for determining the proportion of carbon dioxide in the methane-enriched gas removed from the bioreactor; specifying a target value S for the proportion of carbon dioxide in the methane-enriched gas removed from the bioreactor; supplying carbon dioxide-containing gas to the bioreactor; supplying hydrogen-containing gas to the bioreactor; forming methane-enriched gas in the bioreactor; removing the methane-enriched gas formed in the bioreactor from the bioreactor; determining an actual value for the proportion of carbon dioxide in the methane-enriched gas removed from the bioreactor; comparing the target value S with the determined actual value; regulating the quantity of supplied carbon dioxide-containing gas and/or regulating the quantity of supplied hydrogen-containing gas in a manner such that the determined actual value corresponds to the specified target value S, wherein the target value S specified for the proportion of carbon dioxide in the methane-enriched gas removed from the bioreactor satisfies the condition 0 vol% < S ≤ 5 vol%.

An automated food waste processing system including an enclosure secured to prevent unauthorized access to contents contained therein, the enclosure including a plurality of exterior walls and a food waste processing system housed within the enclosure. The food waste processing system including an imaging system configured to capture a plurality of images of the food waste and the non-biodegradable material received by the sorting receptacle, a processing system configured to process the plurality of images using a trained neural network to identify at least plastic waste and metal waste as the non-biodegradable material when included in the food waste input stream as received by the sorting receptacle, and a sorting system configured to, in response to instructions received from the processing system, automatically locate and remove the non-biodegradable material from the sorting receptacle to create a bio-degradable input stream to the anaerobic digester.

The present invention is a composting bioreactor system that continually receives biodegradable solid wastes, waste waters and exhaust gases, automatically recycles the biodegradable wastes into nutrients and heat energy, and automatically supplies the nutrients and heat into an integrated hydroponic or aquaponic system. This invention together with integrated food growing system may be installed onsite such as balconies, backyards and premises of restaurants and food factories etc. therefore may lead to zero mileage targets both for recycling wastes and for supplying foods. This invention integrates composting process and aquaponic technology together and may establish a closed-loop recirculation of both water and gases therefore upgrades aquaponics into compoponics. A compoponic system has both soil and soilless growing beds and mimics nature recirculating nutrients, carbon and energy among human being, animals, microorganisms and plants by way of photosynthesis, slow burning by cellular respiration and burning by combustion.

The present invention relates to a solid state fermentation process for producing hydrogen, and to a bioreactor and solid support for use in the fermentation process.

The invention integrates electromethanogenesis, which uses electric energy to produce fuel, with a method to capture and recycle the carbon dioxide generated when the fuel is used to release energy.

Lake Kivu contains ˜50 million tonnes (MT) dissolved biomethane. Efficient use is problematic from massive associated CO.sub.2: ˜600 MT. Conventional extraction scrubs CO.sub.2 with ˜50% overall CH.sub.4 loss, and returns ˜80% CO.sub.2 into the deep lake, preserving a catastrophe hazard threatening >2 M people. Methods and systems are disclosed coupling: (1) efficient CH.sub.4+CO.sub.2 degassing; (2) optional oxyfuel power generation and CO.sub.2 power cycle technologies; and (3) CO.sub.2 capture, processing, storage and use in a utilization hub. The invention optimally allows power production with >2× improved efficiency plus cryo-energy storage and large-scale greentech industrialization. CO.sub.2-utilizing products can include: Mg-cements/building materials, algal products/biofuels, urea, bioplastics and recycled materials, plus CO.sub.2 for greenhouse agriculture, CO.sub.2-EOR/CCS, off-grid cooling, fumigants, solvents, carbonation, packaging, ores-, biomass-, and agro-processing, cold pasteurization, frack and geothermal fluids, and inputs to produce methanol, DME, CO, syngas, formic acid, bicarbonate and other greentech chemicals, fuels, fertilizers and carbon products.

A fermenter for biogas plants, including a submersible motor-driven stirrer that can be vertically adjusted by means of a motor. During operation of the biogas plant, the fermenter is filled, to a level, with substrate that is to be fermented, and the agitator blades of the submersible motor-driven stirrer are fully immersed in the substrate. According to the invention, a level gauge is provided, by means of which the level of the substrate is detected and a corresponding level measuring signal is generated as an actual level signal. Furthermore, a control device is provided, to which the level measuring signal is fed and which controls the vertically adjusting motor for the submersible motor-driven stirrer in such a way when a lower level is detected that the stirrer is lowered and the agitator blades continue to be fully immersed in the substrate.