Grind2Energy is an Emerson system for disposing of large amounts of food waste in an environmentally sound manner. Emerson is partnering with AT&T to utilize the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) to enhance the system.

A Grind2Energy unit from Emerson.According to AT&T, approximately 40% of the food produced in the U.S. goes to waste and 97% of that ends up in landfills where it decomposes and produces methane gas. The Emerson system was developed for handling the large amounts of food waste generated in enterprises like supermarkets, hotels, casinos, and sports arenas.

The system processes food scraps into a liquid slurry that is pumped into an on-site holding tank. The slurry is then transported to local anaerobic digestion facilities, which capture the methane and converts it to renewable energy. This has the additional benefit of eliminating open-air trash bins or compactors.

AT&T IoT solutions will provide near real-time visibility into every connected piece of equipment. This will enable repairs to be made more quickly, minimizing downtime, and possibly avoiding a customer service call.

Sensors will alert Emerson's local time service provider when the holding tanks are nearly full, thereby optimizing pickup scheduling and minimizing costs. The system will be able to provide customers with data to immediately access sustainability reports.

AT&T will also provide data analytics to assist customers with predictive maintenance procedures. The data will also enable Emerson to predict the amount and quality of food waste material that will be generated by region. Chain users will be able to compare system run time across multiple locations in order to manage their operations more efficiently.