A story in the business section by Tiffany Hsu on Friday July 17, 2009 covered how Gills Onions in Oxnard, CA is converting onion waste into electricity.

Story in LA Times

Waste to energy.

Onion to energy could save Gills Onions up to $700,000 per year!

The phases of the onion to fuel process:

1. Juice planot – waste from onion is pressed into juice and cattle feed

2. Juice prepared to a holding tank where temperature, ph strength, and micronutrient levels are adjusted. bacteria purchased from Anheuser-Busch beer.

3. Anaerobic digesting, the juice is conveyed to a 145,000 gallon reactor where anaerobic bacteria digest the carbohydrates and convert juice into biogas

4. Biogas is conditioned and purified, dehumidified, and compressed at temperatures over 1,000 degrees

5. Power conversion, the gas is then supploed to two fuel cells , which each generate 300 kilowatts of power. Looking at storing the power onsite with batteries.

gillsonions.com

Notes:

Steve Gill (59)- co-owner of Gills Onions in Oxnard

David Gill co-owner

Slicing $700,000 from electric bill of 14 acre plant in Oxnard

Saving $400,000 in disposal costs

$3 million in government and power company incentives

Cost $9.5 million to build

Payback – around 6 years or less.

Eliminates approx 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year

California Agriculture is $37 billion industry

Sonia Salas – Western Growers Association

Gills Onions

Machines slice off 40% of each onion

150 tons of waste per day!!!

Project Manager: Bill Deaton

Ross McCracken – Editor of Platts Energy Economist “technology is not quite there yet” there is no silver bullet

Gills Onions goal is to become a zero waste facility, even recycling employee lunch leftovers. Even cleans its own water and uses in cooling

Nikki Rodoni
Sustainability Coordinator

Phone: (831) 771-0699
nikkirodoni@gillsonions.com