Presented By: David Kopsell, Illinois State University
Co-Authors: Liangcheng Yang, Illinois State University

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the decomposition of animal, crop, and food waste by microorganisms in sealed vessels or digesters which capture produced biogas as a renewable energy source while recycling nutrients. AD information was incorporated into lecture and laboratory components of Environmental Health Practices, Fruit & Vegetable Production, Organic Crop Production, and Renewable Energy and Agriculture courses at Illinois State University with the objective of enhancing instruction of sustainable waste and energy management. After IRB approval (IRB-2022-58) students completed a pre-learning survey prior to instruction. Students also rated their attitudes and perceptions of waste management, the environment, and climate change. After completing the pre-learning survey, students participated in AD lecture and laboratory exercises with hands-on activities. Students completed a post-learning survey measuring the same metrics. Fifty-nine students in five courses completed the surveys from Spring 2022 to Fall 2023. Student demographics were 81.4% male/16.6% female and 75% white or Caucasian/25% African American, Hispanic, or Asian. Pre-survey knowledge of bioenergy was 1.66 on a scale of 0=no knowledge to 4=excellent knowledge. Pre-survey knowledge of AD including feedstocks used, operation, applications, and products produced were all less than 0.9 on the same scale. Post-survey knowledge of bioenergy (2.67; P≤0.001), AD (2.83; P≤0.001), feedstocks (2.85; P≤0.001), operation (2.76; P≤0.001), applications (2.76; P≤0.001), and products (3.01; P≤0.001) all increased. Student concern about climate change remained unchanged from pre- to post-learning (3.27 and 3.31, respectively; P=0.453) on a scale of 0=not concerned to 4=extremely concerned. Students also identified the importance of hands-on learning both pre-learning (3.51) and post-learning (3.74) and this remained unchanged (P=0.072). Student participants increased their knowledge of AD after instruction, placing a high value on hands-on learning. Anaerobic digestion may be a valuable addition to horticulture and agriculture curricula as sustainable waste and energy management increases in importance in specialty crop production.