Dallas, Texas has become the latest hotspot for renewable energy, in this case the capture and reuse of biogas from sewage. Biogas is a byproduct of the sewage treatment process and until now it has been routinely flared off at treatment plants. That’s right, until recently biogas has been treated as a mere
Researchers from Newcastle University in the U.K. have done the math, and on the surface it looks pretty grim. Every year, the U.S. flushes about 12.5 trillion gallons of energy right down the drain. They’re actually talking about potential energy, in the form of biofuels that could be recovered from … [continued]
It’s a sustainable, micro-scale, low cost alternative to the gas guzzling honey wagon: a bicycle that powers a small vacuum pump for emptying cesspools, and doubles as a zero emission vehicle for trucking the sewage away. Its inventor, Cambridge University researcher Nate Sharpe, envisions his “People Powered Poo Pump” as … [continued]
The sewage-to-biofuel field is attracting interest from major companies like Waste Management and startups like InfoSpi, which are betting that renewable sewage biodiesel can become competitive with petroleum diesel on price. Now the American Chemical Society has published an article* on sewage biodiesel that bears out this promise. The article … [continued]
InfoSpi has become the latest in a growing list of companies that are transforming sewage treatment plants into gigantic energy recovery facilities. The company has entered an agreement with IBS (Integral Bioenergies Systems) to build a demonstration plant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that will convert sewage sludge to biofuel. [social_buttons] … [continued]
Wastewater treatment plants are vast expanses of bubbling tanks that sprawl around the outskirts (and sometimes the inskirts) of cities and towns. All that acreage can be put to another use and one solar energy company, SunPower Corp. is pointing the way. The company recently completed work on a one-megawatt … [continued]
Industry juggernaut Waste Management is convinced there’s a future in sewage-to-biofuel, and to prove it the company has just joined with the largest refiner in the U.S., Valero Energy Corp., to blend wastewater “crude” into gasoline. The two companies have invested in Terrabon LLC, which was formed in the 1990’s … [continued]
Hydrogen fuel cells have long been hailed as the next big thing to replace petroleum in cars, but there is one major problem: hydrogen is usually produced from fossil fuels. Fortunately, a multitude of companies are looking at alternative hydrogen sources— including sewage and dough.
Researchers at Oregon State University have made game-changing discovery in the field of hydrogen fuel cell production. They believe that biowaste— such as simple municipal sewage—can produce hydrogen at a lower cost than traditional electrolysis technology.
San Antonio, Texas is making use of its 140,000 tons of sewage generated each year to capture methane gas. The city’s utility board of trustees approved a contract this week to sell 900,000 cubic feet of natural gas derived from the sewage each day to Ameresco, a Massachusetts energy services … [continued]
