Apparatus, system and method for automated food waste processing
A food waste processing system including an enclosure secured to prevent unauthorized access to a food waste processing system housed within the enclosure. The food waste processing system including an imaging system configured to capture a plurality of images of the food waste input stream including food waste suitable for the bio-degradable input stream and contaminant material, and a processing system configured to identify types of fruits and types of vegetables included in the food waste input stream and to automatically determine a quantity of at least one of a type of fruit and/or a type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream. The system including a port configured to deposit the food waste input stream from a location outside of the enclosure. A liquid fertilizer dispensing device configured to allow a removal of liquid fertilizer from the food waste processing system from a location outside of the enclosure.
1 . An automated food waste processing system, the system comprising:
an enclosure secured to prevent unauthorized access to contents contained therein; and
a food waste processing system housed within the enclosure, the food waste processing system including:
an anaerobic digester having an input configured to receive a bio-degradable input stream and an output configured to discharge a liquid fertilizer generated by the anaerobic digester from the bio-degradable input stream;
a sorting receptacle configured to receive a food waste input stream for the anaerobic digester, the food waste input stream including food waste suitable for the bio-degradable input stream and contaminant material;
an imaging system configured to automatically capture a plurality of images of the food waste input stream received by the sorting receptacle;
a processing system configured to automatically process the plurality of images to identify types of fruits and types of vegetables included in the food waste input stream and to automatically determine a quantity of at least one of a type of fruit and/or a type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream;
a port accessible at an exterior of the enclosure, the port configured to allow personnel untrained in an operation of the food waste processing system to deposit the food waste input stream from a location outside of the enclosure for delivery to the sorting receptacle;
a fertilizer tank configured to hold the liquid fertilizer, the fertilizer tank including an input coupled to the output of the anaerobic digester and an output; and
a liquid fertilizer dispensing device coupled to the output of the fertilizer tank, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device accessible at the exterior of the enclosure, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device configured to allow personnel untrained in the operation of the food waste processing system to remove liquid fertilizer from the food waste processing system from a location outside of the enclosure.
2 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 1 , wherein the processing system is configured to generate a report including quantities of each type of fruit and each type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream.
3 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a sorting system configured to, in response to instructions received from the processing system, automatically locate and remove the contaminant material from food waste input stream located in the sorting receptacle to create the bio-degradable input stream.
4 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 3 , wherein the sorting system includes at least one of a magnet, an electromagnet, and/or an eddy current separator.
5 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 3 , wherein the sorting system includes a robotic system.
6 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 3 , wherein the contaminant material includes non-biodegradable material and unsuitable biodegradable material.
7 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 1 , wherein the processing system employs a trained neural network to identify the type of fruit and/or the type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream.
8 . An automated food waste processing system, the system comprising:
an enclosure secured to prevent unauthorized access to contents contained therein; and
a food waste processing system housed within the enclosure, the food waste processing system including:
an anaerobic digester having an input configured to receive a bio-degradable input stream generated from a food waste input stream and an output configured to discharge a liquid fertilizer generated by the anaerobic digester from the bio-degradable input stream;
an imaging system configured to automatically capture a plurality of images of the food waste input stream;
a processing system configured to automatically process the plurality of images to identify types of fruits and types of vegetables included in the food waste input stream and to automatically determine a quantity of at least one of a type of fruit and/or a type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream;
a port accessible at an exterior of the enclosure, the port configured to allow personnel untrained in an operation of the food waste processing system to deposit the food waste input stream from a location outside of the enclosure;
a fertilizer tank configured to hold the liquid fertilizer, the fertilizer tank including an input coupled to the output of the anaerobic digester and an output; and
a liquid fertilizer dispensing device coupled to the output of the fertilizer tank, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device accessible at the exterior of the enclosure, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device configured to allow personnel untrained in the operation of the food waste processing system to remove liquid fertilizer from the food waste processing system from a location outside of the enclosure.
9 . An automated food waste processing system, the system comprising:
an enclosure secured to prevent unauthorized access to contents contained therein; and
a food waste processing system housed within the enclosure, the food waste processing system including:
an anaerobic digester having an input configured to receive a bio-degradable input stream generated from a food waste input stream and an output configured to discharge a liquid fertilizer generated by the anaerobic digester from the bio-degradable input stream;
an imaging system configured to automatically capture a plurality of images of the food waste input stream;
a processing system configured to automatically process the plurality of images to identify types of fruits and types of vegetables included in the food waste input stream and to automatically determine a quantity of at least one of a type of fruit and/or a type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream;
a port accessible at an exterior of the enclosure, the port configured to allow a deposit of the food waste input stream from a location outside of the enclosure;
a fertilizer tank configured to hold the liquid fertilizer, the fertilizer tank including an input coupled to the output of the anaerobic digester and an output; and
a liquid fertilizer dispensing device coupled to the output of the fertilizer tank, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device configured to allow a removal of liquid fertilizer from the food waste processing system.
10 . A method of food waste processing using the automated food waste processing system of claim 9 , the method comprising:
operating the imaging system to capture the plurality of images of the food waste input stream received by the sorting receptacle; and
transmitting the plurality of images to the processing system where the fruits and the vegetables included in the food waste input stream are identified along with a determination of the quantity of at least one of the type of fruit and/or the type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream.
11 . The method of food waste processing according to claim 10 , further comprising employing, by the processing system, a neural network to identify the type of fruit and/or the type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream.
12 . The method of food waste processing according to claim 11 , further comprising training the neural network using a set of waste classification images.
13 . The method of food waste processing according to claim 12 , wherein the contaminant material includes non-biodegradable material and unsuitable biodegradable material, and wherein the method further comprises training the neural network to provide for an identification of each of the non-biodegradable material and the unsuitable biodegradable material.
14 . The method of food waste processing according to claim 10 , further comprising employing the processing system is to generate a report including quantities of each type of fruit and each type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream.
15 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 9 , further comprising a sorting receptacle configured to receive the food waste input stream, the food waste input stream including food waste suitable for the bio-degradable input stream and contaminant material.
16 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 9 , further comprising a sorting system configured to, in response to instructions received from the processing system, automatically locate and remove the contaminant material from food waste input stream located in the sorting receptacle to create the bio-degradable input stream.
17 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 9 , wherein the processing system is configured to generate a report including quantities of each type of fruit and each type of vegetable included in the food waste input stream.
18 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 9 , wherein the processing system includes a neural network trained to identify at least one of plastic waste and/or metal waste in addition to the types of fruits and the types of vegetables included in the food waste input stream.
19 . The automated food waste processing system of claim 9 , wherein the liquid fertilizer dispensing device is accessible at the exterior of the enclosure, the liquid fertilizer dispensing device configured to allow a removal of liquid fertilizer from the food waste processing system from a location outside of the enclosure.