01 July 2025

At the Biogas Solutions Research Center summer conference, Roozbeh Feiz shared insights on food waste management and biogas production. He emphasized that while preventing food waste is critical—avoidable food wastes should not become waste—converting it into biogas through anaerobic digestion is the best way to handle it once it becomes waste.

Roozbeh Feiz presents his research on turning food waste into valuable biogas.
Roozbeh Feiz presents his research on turning food waste into valuable biogas. Photographer: Teiksma Buseva

This point has been clearly shown in a recent review of published studies. Food waste is generated at various stages, including agriculture, retail, restaurants, and households, with households contributing a significant portion.

Roozbeh Feiz noted that while Sweden has made strides in reducing food waste, much of the waste still ends up in incineration instead of biogas plants. He highlighted that source separation—separating food waste at the point of generation—is key to improving the efficiency of biogas production.

"Households are the largest contributor," he noted, underscoring the importance of tackling waste at its source.

He explained the biogas process, which includes source separation, collection, pretreatment, and anaerobic digestion.

"Once food waste is separated and collected properly, we can maximize the energy recovery"

Roozbeh Feiz emphasized the importance of collection system in this process, especially in peri-urban and rural areas where it is more energy intensive and costly to collect the waste.

To measure and improve the system, Roozbeh Feiz introduced Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These KPIs track metrics like energy balance, nutrient recovery, and carbon footprint, helping to improve biogas production from a lifecycle perspective and in such a way that they include source-separation rate and collection efficiency. These KPIs allow fair comparison of different production systems.

"KPIs allow us to track improvements in the system while highlighting areas that need further development," said Roozbeh Feiz.

Roozbeh Feiz concluded by discussing the global potential of biogas. He explained that, despite some variation, biogas is one of the most efficient methods for managing food waste and recovering energy. The system’s effectiveness depends on improvements in waste collection, source separation, and nutrient recovery.

Contact

Read more about biogas research at LiU

Latest news from LiU

LiU and Region Östergötland invest in AI and precision health

Linköping University and Region Östergötland announce initiatives in the areas of life science, medtech, innovation and information-driven precision health in a new collaboration agreement.

A man in a lab applies water to the surface of a yellow-green material.

More effective production of “green” hydrogen with new combined material

Hydrogen produced from water is a promising renewable energy source – especially if the hydrogen is produced using sunlight. Now LiU researchers show that a combination of new materials improves the efficiency of the chemical reaction several times.

Demonstration of MR elastography.

Fatty liver – but not liver damage – common in type 2 diabetes

Six out of ten people with type 2 diabetes had fatty liver in a new study. Of these, only a small percentage had developed more severe liver disease. Type 2 diabetes in combination with obesity is linked to a greater risk.