Co-Digestion Economic Analysis Tool (CoEAT)
Although CoEAT was initially designed for use at Water Resource Recovery Facilities, it is a valuable tool for anyone operating an anaerobic digestion system. Use of the term Water Resource Recovery Facility (or WRRF) in this context is intentional. The term is indicative of the movement toward managing facilities previously called “Wastewater Treatment Plants” to produce clean water and reduce the nation’s dependence upon fossil fuel through the production and use of renewable energy. EPA-developed tools like CoEAT play a role in this transition.
CoEAT is designed for decision-makers with technical experience in anaerobic digestion, including municipal managers, engineers, and operators of anaerobic digestion systems. CoEAT helps users evaluate the costs and benefits of accepting and processing wasted food, fats, oils and greases (FOG) or other organic materials. CoEAT uses data and specific parameters from the facility under evaluation. The tool generates economic and operational data to help users understand the impacts and costs of digesting more than one type of feedstock at their facility. The data includes:
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Fixed and recurring costs.
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Solid waste diversion savings.
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Capital investments.
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Biogas production and associated energy value.
Co-digesting with wasted food and FOG will increase biogas production at a single-source digestion facility, such as a WRRF or farm digester. This is beneficial to the facility because biogas can be used to generate energy which can offset costs. Biogas has many beneficial uses. There is also the added bonus of less wasted food/FOG being disposed of in landfills and therefore less methane gas being emitted to the atmosphere (from landfills).
The original version of the CoEAT tool was published in July of 2010. The tool was updated in 2017 and an accompanying user's manual was also developed. Both the Tool and the manual can be accessed using the links below.
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Co-digestion Economic Analysis Tool (CoEAT) - tool to evaluate costs and benefits of processing wasted food, FOG and other organic materials . (xlsm)