Power Knot and Dubai Creative Group have collaborated with Microsoft Dubai to create what the company claims is the first solar-powered biodigester in the world.
In 2021, the Microsoft Real Estate and Facilities Directorate (RE&F) team in Dubai implemented a solar-powered LFC biodigester for their restaurant. Microsoft set clear goals to become carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030 and purchased the LFC biodigester to help them achieve these goals.
"By implementing the biodigester system here in our Dubai office, we're able to process our food waste locally directly contributing to those three goals and making out office and ultimately, the planet, a more sustainable place to work," says James Spearman, Microsoft's UAE sustainability lead.
The LFC biodigester is a machine that digests food waste. The digestate the machine outputs is then used as a plant-organic fertilizer. These machines are usually installed in a commercial kitchen and reduce the expense, inconvenience, mess, and carbon footprint of disposing of waste food that would otherwise be hauled to a landfill. Power Knot has ten different sizes that digest from 9 kg (20 lb) per day to 3000 kg (6600 lb) per day of food waste.
Additionally, all LFC biodigesters automatically connect to the LFC Cloud, Power Knot's continuous data analytics system. The LFC Cloud shows statistics on usage, diagnostics, and service schedules, and can be accessed from any device. The LFC biodigester securely sends data about the operation of the LFC biodigester to the server and that data is retained for five years. All data available on the LFC touch screen is sent to the LFC Cloud where a user can easily create reports for stakeholders.
