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-   -   Human waste powered incinerator / generator (https://ecorenovator.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2835)

Daox 01-14-13 01:21 PM

Human waste powered incinerator / generator
 
I read this article about a North Carolina waste treatment facility looking into using human waste as a fuel for an incinerator / generator. However, it was dated 2010.

US to tap human waste for electricity | SBS World News

Quote:

A wastewater-treatment plant in Cabarrus County expects to start burning processed human excrement as early as next year to generate its own electricity.

...

The energy content of the man-made fuel is comparable to that of wood, says Robert Rubin, a professor of biological and agricultural engineering.

Quite interesting, I had no idea poo had that kind of energy density...


So, I googled up the latest info on it and it seems like they're going ahead with things. At the very least the idea is still there. The article doesn't have a lot of new info unfortunately. 1.9 mW doesn't seem like a ton of power. I wonder how many homes the wastewater plant serves?

Quote:

The Rocky River Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, run by the Water and Sewer Authority of Cabarrus County, plans to invest $12 million to build a system that will enable it to produce up to 1.9 megawatts of electricity -- enough energy to power 1,400 homes every day -- from heat generated by a multihearth sludge incinerator. Sludge is human feces with the water removed.

A small FAQ sheet can be found on the company's website here:

http://www.wsacc.org/vertical/sites/...y_FLYER_V4.pdf

The sheet states that the plant will be online in early 2013 which is just about anytime now.

Piwoslaw 01-15-13 08:45 AM

Warsaw's main sewage treatment plant is being upgraded and it is supposed to have an incinerator, though I don't know if it will generate power.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daox (Post 27490)
Quite interesting, I had no idea poo had that kind of energy density...

Oh, it does! When camping on a plateau above the tree line sometimes the only thing to burn in a campfire is dried up cow patties.
Shows how inefficient our digestive track is:rolleyes:

AC_Hacker 01-17-13 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw (Post 27501)
...Shows how inefficient our digestive track is...

I have heard that the figure is around 10% efficient.

That's true for plant photosynthesis.

That true for herbivores.

That's true for carnivores.

I read a very interesting book that used this figure to explain how many square feet of land are required to support a plant.

And thus how many square feet of land are required to support an herbivore (that feed on plants).

And thus how many square feet of land are required to support a carnivore (that feed on herbivores).

And thus how many square feet of land are required to support a human (that preys on carnivores).

The land space requirement gets high pretty quickly.

It's a real pyramid thing.

-AC

JRMichler 01-19-13 05:41 PM

The inefficiency of digestive tract clearly explains this: RunningAHEAD - Topic: The dog ate WHAT????


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