Design of a Homogenizing System for Bio-degradable Food Waste from Eatery Centres

Effective pre-treatment of food waste is important to ensure that subsequent treatment in a biogas plant works well. This paper describes a two-dimensional finite volume model for the design of a homogenizing system for bio-degradable food waste from eatery centers. The numerical solver incorporates the analysis of the property distribution for food waste slurry in a storage tank, while coupling the impact of mixing on the slurry fluid. The partial differential equations which describe the conservation of mass, momentum and energy are simulated. The simulation covered the mixing and heating cycles of the slurry. The slurry fluid was exposed to a pretreatment temperature of 60⁰ C. With carrot-orange soup as the studied food waste, constant density and a temperature dependent viscosity are assumed. The predicted results for velocity, pressure and temperature distribution are discussed and a source term for mixing was proposed. This assessment of distribution of velocity and temperature is expected play a role in future studies and designs of a homogenizer for biodegradable food waste.