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Directory:Energy from Sewage

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Directory of technologies and resources related to harvesting energy from sewage and waste water.

Technologies

Commercial

Waste to Energy > Sewage >
Farts to Fuel: New Methane Processing Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn - A facility in Brooklyn, New York, will capture escaping gas from Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, removing methane and carbon dioxide. The odorless gas would then be added to National Grid’s gas distribution system. (Inhabitat; February 10, 2011)

Waste to Energy > Grease / Sewage >
Human Waste to Energy in Lovelock - Nevada company, Waters Vacuum, has a commercial process turning restaraunt grease and human waste into 'better than diesel' fuel and fertilizer, which is used locally, closing the loop. (KTVN 2 News / YouTube; October 8, 2010)

Waste to Energy > Sewage / Microorganisms >
Human waste power plant goes online in the UK - Brotish Gas has gone online with a sewage-to-biomethane plant that converts the treated sewage of 14 million Thames Water customers into clean, green gas and is pumping that gas into people's homes. Biomethane is created when bacteria known as anaerobic digesters break down organic material such as human or animal waste, food and household waste to produce a thick, odorless waste plus methane. (GizMag; October 5, 2010)

Waste to Energy > Sewage >
UK Prepares to Use Human Poop to Power Homes - This summer British Gas ... will start piping biomethane from the sewage system — which is derived from fecal matter — right back into the homes of 130 customers in Oxfordshire. The new gas will take 23 days to complete its waste treatment cycle and when it enters homes will smell just like natural gas. (Inhabitat; Apr. 19, 2010)

British firm gets taste for 'poo power' - Britain's biggest water company, Thames Water, lifted the lid Monday on how it slashed costs by burning customers' faeces to make electricity.Energy is generated through either "thermal destruction", where dried blocks of "poo cake" are burned, or "anaerobic digestion", where the methane from sewage sludge is burned. (Energy Daily; Dec. 7, 2009)

Energy Products of Idaho (EPI) - World leader in atmospheric fluidized bed combustion technology with more than 81 installations world wide, and over 5 million hours of operating experience. EPI has completed energy systems operating on a wider variety of fuels than any any other fluid bed supplier in the world. Waste input: agriculture, wood, paper, livestock, fossil fuels, RDF (refuse), industrial, sewage. Output: electricity, steam/hot water, thermal fluids, hot gas for dryer.

Super Critical Water Oxidation - AquaCritox® is revolutionary technology which can completely destroy organic wastes and generate renewable energy. SCFI's AquaCritox® process uses the properties of supercritical water to provide an economical and sustainable solution for the management of liquid organic wastes. The technology provides a rapid, clean and sustainable method of dealing with liquid organic waste streams such as high strength industrial wastewater, sewage sludge and biosolids and enables precious metals recovery from catalysts.

Capstone MicroTurbine - As waste biodegrades at landfills, sewage treatment plants, livestock farms and food waste processing facilities, methane and other toxic gases are formed. Most sites flare those gases or let them vent into the air. Capstone MicroTurbines are turning that source of pollution into clean, renewable energy, to cut or virtually eliminate your facility’s power bills.

ThermoEnergy - Converting sewage sludge to a renewable high-energy fuel, and enabling the conversion of coal and other hydrocarbon fuels into energy with zero air emissions. The ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System combines the combustion of carbonaceous fuels with recovery of by-products by pressurizing the entire combustion system to enable the use of gas-to-liquid steam-hydroscrubbing.

Microbial Fuel Cells

See Directory:Microbial Fuel Cells - separate page

Going Commercial

Waste-to-Energy > Sewage / Alt Fuels > Biofuel >
Motorcycle Powered by Sewage, Has Toilet for Seat - A new motorcycle that has a toilet for a seat and runs on sewage just completed a 600-mile trek across Japan. The eco-friendly, three-wheel Neo runs on biogas produced from sewage and was built by Japanese toilet maker Toto. (NBC New York; November 11, 2011)

Featured: Waste to Energy > from Sewage >
Wastewater-sludge-to-energy process nearing production - A research team at the University of Nevada has developed a process takes de-watered sludge from a wastewater plant, and is able to efficiently dry it to the point that it can then be gasified into syngas, which can then be burned to produce electricity. (PESN; March 26, 2010) (Comment)

China Grants Patent for ThermoFuel Process - ThermoEnergy Corporation was granted a patent for the ThermoFuel Process, that uses heat and pressure to convert sewage sludge into fuel at wastewater treatment plants. Nothing will leave the plant but clean water, high-energy biomass-derived fuel and fertilizer. (Renewable Energy Access; Jul. 20, 2007)

First Biodiesel from Sewage - Marlborough-based Aquaflow Bionomic has produced its first sample of bio-diesel fuel from algae in sewage ponds. The company expects to be producing at the rate of at least one million liters of fuel per year from Blenheim by April. (New Zealand Herald; May 12, 2006) ([1]) (See Slashdot discussion)

Hydrogen Production >
It's a gas: Human waste being turned into car fuel - The Orange County Sanitation District is about to begin converting human waste into hydrogen fuel in a first-of-its-kind attempt to turn sewage into a salable product. (OC Register; Aug. 14, 2008)

Sewage treatment plants to help generate electricity - California plants hope to generate enough to run their own operations and then some. (FuelCellWorks; Nov. 2, 2004)

LA to turn sludge into electricity - A new plant in Los Angeles, said to be the first of its kind in the U.S., injects material left over from treated wastewater into depleted oil and gas reservoirs underground, where high temperatures and pressure creates methane gas to power fuel cells on the surface. Powering around 3,000 homes, the process will also dissolve carbon dioxide and reduce the amount of treated solid waste. (PhysOrg; Apr. 6, 2007)

Research and Development

University of Massachusetts Amherst

New Microbe Strain Makes More Electricity, Faster - Researchers have coaxed Geobacter, the sediment-loving microbe who produce electric current from mud and wastewater, to evolve a new strain. It dramatically increases power output per cell (8x), overall bulk power, and with a thinner biofilm, cuts the time to produce electricity on the electrode. Now it is plausibe to begin designing microbial fuel cells for a myriad of applications including converting waste water to electricity. (NewsWise; July 29, 2009)

Penn State

Fuel Cell Converts Raw Sewage into Power - Penn State University "microbial fuel cell" treats the water at the same time it generates electricity. (PhysOrg; Oct. 27, 2004)

Penn State > Microbial Fuel Cells Produce Power by Cleaning Domestic Wastewater - boosts output six times while reducing costs by two thirds. (WorldChanging.com; June 23, 2004)

Microbial fuel cell: high yield hydrogen source and wastewater cleaner - Using a new electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell (MFC) that does not require oxygen, Penn State environmental engineers and a scientist at Ion Power Inc. have developed the first process that enables bacteria to coax four times as much hydrogen directly out of biomass than can be generated typically by fermentation alone. (PhysOrg; April 22, 2005)

Urine

See Directory:Urine Power - separate page

Other Research

Nanotech / Waste to Energy > from Sewage >
Nanotech coatings produce 20 times more electricity from sewage - Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times (PhysOrg; July 21, 2010)

Waste to Energy > from Sewage / Microorganisms >
Sustainable Sewage Treatment Plants with New Bacteria - Researchers at Delft University of Technology have discovered a type of bacteria called Anammox that can directly destroy the ammonium into nitrogen in sewage treatment processes. The process can also generate up to 24Wh to serve sustainable sewage treatment plants. (EarthAlternate; May 14, 2010)

Microorganisms / Waste to Energy > from Sewage >
Microbial Breakthrough to Make Diesel Directly From Non-Food Plant Waste - A group of scientists from both the public and private arenas has announced that they’ve successfully engineered a strain of the microbe E. coli to contain all the bits required to turn raw plant matter directly into diesel without any refinement or intermediary steps required; and may be able to directly produce environmentally-friendly surfactants, solvents and lubricants. (Gas2; Jan. 28, 2010)

Bio-Petrol.com - Developing a process of low temperature thermochemical conversion of municipal sewage sludge into oil. It can also process agri-wastes, bagasse, pulp and paper residues, tannery sludge and other end-of-life products such as plastics, tires and the organics in municipal solid waste.

Ray of light for water industry - University of Aberdeen scientists developing new technology that uses sunlight to treat dirty water and create electricity simultaneously. Three industrial partners develop novel technology for breaking up pollutants found in all types of water supplies. (PhysOrg; UK; April 28, 2005)

Japanese Power Plant Fueled with Sewage Certified Efficient, Grid-Safe and Ultra-Clean - Independent Japanese industry group validates Direct FuelCell use in wastewater treatment; certification expected to streamline process of marketing future DFC sales in Japan. (PESN; Mar. 29, 2006)

Pollution-Eating Bacteria Produce Electricity - "These bacteria can convert a large number of different food sources into electricity. The technology could be used to assist in the reclamation of wastewaters, thereby resulting in the removal of waste and generation of electricity." (PhysOrg; June 7, 2005)

University of Warwick Converting Sewage Waste into Power - Dr. Ashok Bhattacharya and his team have cracked the problem of how to extract very pure levels of hydrogen from wet bio-matter, such as sewage or paper mill waste using a nanocrystalline catalyst. (The Hindu; May 30, 2004)

Wastewater: Energy of the future? - Professor Jurg Keller at Australia's University of Queensland said he and his colleagues have discovered how to turn wastewater into electricity. (PhysOrg; Nov. 2005)

Tire vaporizer

Creative Energy Systems - Sewage and Landfill Clean-up with Energy Production; isolation of elements for recycling. Super-clean tire burner prototype operated 1 year. Full municipal waste and sewage to energy system has not yet to be assembled. Includes plasma technology.

Resources

http://WaterAndWasteWater.com

Zip Project - Zero Impact Platform project was created to handle waste cycle and water cycle management with clean, renewable technologies available, as well as to support research and development into the same. (PESWiki; Aug. 5, 2005)