United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Seth M Foulkes

Lixiong Li

Michael Henley

William W Wallace

Theodore V Marolla

A waste management and resource recovery system that uses the different waste streams from typical waste sources as fuel or feedstock for its subsystems that, in turn, produce fuel, feedstock or energy for other subsystems such that all the different waste streams are effectively managed. The subsystems include a gas burner for solid and fuel wastes that supplies heat to a hydrothermal processor for saccharification of paper and cardboard. The resulting saccharification broth, along with kitchen wastes and blackwater, are supplied to a bioreactor using dark fermentation to produce hydrogen and volatile fatty acids. The hydrogen and volatile fatty acids are supplied to hydrogen and microbial fuel cells to produce electrical energy for operating the system and potable water. A steam accumulator is added to provide sufficient temperatures and pressures to reach the necessary thermodynamic states for the saccharification process. An enzymatic saccharification processor may also improve the saccharification process.

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Johnstown, PA, United States of America

Seth M Foulkes