1. Introduction
Large amounts of organic rich food waste are produced annually from municipal sources including domestic and commercial kitch- ens, restaurants and food processing plants. Typically, food waste is a solid type that is difficult to manage, but has high organic frac- tions to be utilized as an alternative bioenergy source. More than 36.3 million tons of food waste (0.16 kg/capita/d) were generated in the United States in 2011, representing 14.5% of the total muni- cipal solid waste, of which less than 3% was recycled (U.S. EPA, 2011). According to the Ministry of Environment, Korea, the pro- duction of food waste is approximately 0.27 kg/capita/d (13,037 tons/d), comprising 29% of the total municipal solid waste. High cellulose contents and salinity in food waste creates difficulties for fertilizer products and composting. On the other hand, as food