DAVIS, Calif. -- The University of California, Davis started an environmentally friendly power plant Tuesday that will convert tons of table scraps from San Francisco Bay Area restaurants into renewable energy.

The Biogas Energy Project will process eight tons of leftovers per week, eventually increasing to eight tons daily, according to project leaders. Each ton is expected to produce enough energy on average to power and heat 10 homes for 24 hours, they said.

The project is the first large-scale test of technology developed over the past eight years by Davis engineering professor Ruihong Zhang. It has been patented by the University of California Regents and adapted for commercial use by Davis-based Onsite Power Systems Inc.

The facility will incorporate on a large scale the natural process of anaerobic digestion, the bacterial breakdown of organic materials. Tanks of microbes will break down the food waste and excrete hydrogen and methane - gases that, when burned, can generate electricity or fuel vehicles.

The $1 million Biogas project is primarily funded by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research Program.

It is part of a $4 million project funded by the California Energy Commission and industry partners.