LFC biodigester

How It Works

The LFC biodigester uses a series of processes in which micro­organisms break down biodegradable material in the presence of oxygen.

A medium inside the LFC biodigester — Powerchips — houses the microorganisms. In combination with our proprietary mixture of microorganisms and enzymes — Powerzyme — the digestion of food products is accelerated. The output is grey water that is environmentally safe. You discharge this down the drain or use it to enrich your landscape.

The process operates aerobically — in the presence of oxygen — so there are no smells. A motor turns arms inside the LFC drum to mix the waste with oxygen and microorganisms. That turning is only a quarter of the time and is slow to ensure that the waste is not macerated and allows the microbes to digest the waste.

Installation

The LFC biodigester is typically installed where the waste is generated. This may be in the preparation area or the dish washing area in a galley or kitchen. You can install it outside, provided it is protected from the elements.

When the machine is placed near to where the waste is generated it improves efficiency by minimizing the labor to transport the waste, eliminating the need for plastic bags to contain the waste, and reducing the number and size of bins required to transport the waste.

You roll the LFC biodigester to its location and install the feet. Depending on the model, the machine needs warm water or hot and cold water, and ac power. The waste water output goes to a drain.

Depending on the model, an LFC biodigester can be installed in an hour or so.

Simple Operation

The LFC biodigester is constantly digesting the waste and you can add waste food at any time. Simply open the door, throw in the waste, and close the door. In this way, you can view the LFC biodigester as a bottomless bucket. The LFC biodigester digests food in a continuous process and operates without stopping.

Like our own stomach, you don’t feed the LFC biodigester only once per day; as the waste is generated you put it into the machine. This eliminates the accumulation of the waste, the need to take it out to a dumpster, and the bags you may need to do this.

The operating parameters of the machine are fully programmable and protected by a password. However, the default program works in the vast majority of deployments.

Weighing the Amount of Waste

Load cells on each corner of the LFC biodigester accurately weigh the amount of waste food in the LFC biodigester, the amount that is added, and the amount that is digested. This data is automatically stored and reported graphically and numerically. The data can be viewed by the hour, day, week, month, and year.

As the operator adds waste into the LFC biodigester, the touch screen indicates how much more can be added. When the door is closed the LFC biodigester indicates with a bright LED when more waste can be added with a simple green indication. As waste is added, the indication becomes yellow when no more waste should be added and red if the operator overloads the LFC biodigester.

The LFC biodigesters are NTEP Certified. This certification provides assurance that the weight of the waste food that is measured and reported is true and accurate. This ensures compliance with regulations, prevents fraud, and builds confidence with stakeholders.

Capacity

The amount of food that can be digested depends on the type of food, the frequency with which it is added to the LFC biodigester, and the duration of the working day. The rated capacity of an LFC biodigester is based on a mixture of raw and cooked food as may be found in a typical restaurant that is added to the machine over a 12 hour to 16 hour working day.

There is no maximum amount of waste food that a machine will eat in a day. Cooked rice, pasta, or bread are some of the foods that are rapidly digested and if added in equal portions throughout the day, then a machine will digest appreciably more.

Connection to the Cloud

The LFC biodigester can connect through its Ethernet port to a cloud server maintained by Power Knot. The LFC biodigester securely sends data about the operation of the LFC biodigester to the server and that data is retained for five years. The data includes the amount of waste food digested hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly; the number of times the door is opened in these periods; and the amount of CO2 diverted from the landfill during these periods. If you have multiple machines, you can aggregate the data into a single report.

Remotely, you can view the health of the system including all diagnostics and when the LFC biodigester requires scheduled maintenance.

You have access to view and manipulate the data from any computer, tablet, or smartphone anywhere in the world. This access is available as long as you own the LFC biodigester at no charge to you.

Saving the Planet

When food waste is discarded in a landfill, it degrades as an anaerobic process (in the absence of oxygen). This decomposition produces methane (CH4) which is 87 times worse for the atmosphere in the short term than carbon dioxide (CO2). The effect of this on global warming is huge, because the largest part of garbage sent to landfills in the US is waste food. Further, the decomposition smells and can cause health problems. Discarding 100 kg (220 lb) of waste food per day causes the equivalent of 153 tonnes of CO2 per year to be sent to the atmosphere.

The decomposition inside the LFC biodigester is an aerobic process (in the presence of oxygen). This produces CO2 and water in a natural manner that is accelerated in the food decomposition machine. This natural process is carbon neutral because the carbon was taken from the atmosphere to produce the food in the first place. The LFC biodigester uses minimal electricity. For example, running the LFC-100 for a year causes the production of about 2.1 tonnes of CO2.

Global Features

Power Knot sells and supports its products worldwide and has installations in six continents and all of the world’s oceans. The LFC biodigester is fully certified for the US, Canada, and the EU with compliance information available on request. Small models (LFC-100 biodigester and below) have a universal ac input. Larger models are available with different ac supply voltages.

Power Knot products can be used globally to save money, improve operations, comply with local regulations and customer expectations, and reduce your carbon footprint.