ZWEDC AD & Compost Facility

When it was completed in 2013, this facility, filling 6.2 acres of the Nine-Par Landfill site in San Jose, became the world’s largest dry fermentation anaerobic digestion (AD) facility and the first large-scale commercial facility of its kind in the United States. Developed by Zero Waste Energy Development Company, the facility utilizes Zero Waste Energy LLC’s patented dry-fermentation processing technology to convert organic waste into energy and compost.

With 16 AD units and four in-vessel composting units, the facility can process more than 90,000 tons of organic materials per year, producing 1.6 MW of electricity and roughly 35,000 tons of compost annually. The 82,000 square foot facility designed by JRMA includes processing areas, as well as administrative and employee areas for facility operator Zanker Road Resource Management.