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Posted on 09/09/2008 8:04:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – The U.S. city of San Antonio unveiled a deal on Tuesday that will make it the first U.S. city to harvest methane gas from human waste on a commercial scale and turn it into clean-burning fuel.
San Antonio residents produce about 140,000 tons a year of a substance gently referred to as "biosolids," which can be reprocessed into natural gas, said Steve Clouse, chief operating officer of the city's water system.
"You may call it something else," Clouse said, but for area utilities, the main byproduct of human waste - methane gas - will soon be converted into natural gas to burn in their power plants.
The city approved a deal where Massachusetts-based Ameresco Inc will convert the city's biosolids into natural gas, which could generate about 1.5 million cubic feet per day, he said.
Methane gas, which is a byproduct of human and organic waste, is a principal component of the natural gas used to fuel furnaces, power plants, and other combustion-based generators.
"The private vendor will come onto the facility, construct some gas cleaning systems, remove the moisture, remove the carbon dioxide content, and then sell that gas on the open market," Clouse said.
The gas will be sold to power generators, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
True, in roughly the same sense that dihydrogen monoxide is a principal component of water.
This is a very old technology. Quite a few hippy homesteads have been built where the human (and sometimes animal) waste is digested and used to produce fuel for cooking and lighting.
AFAIK it's not been used on this scale before.
True, in roughly the same sense that dihydrogen monoxide is a principal component of water.
This is a very old technology. Quite a few hippy homesteads have been built where the human (and sometimes animal) waste is digested and used to produce fuel for cooking and lighting.
AFAIK it's not been used on this scale before.
I wonder what they'll do with it. By definition CO2 released during this process is part of the natural cycle and doesn't increase atmospheric CO2.
No mention of the economics...
Anybody know?
We buy oil from overseas cause it’s cheaper than drilling for our own.
We are now importing ethanol, cause it’s cheaper to get it from Brazil, than to make it ourselves, even with the subsidies.
So, (yes, you know where this is going) what country will offer crap cheaper so we end up importing it ?
What happens if the whole country gets constipated at once ?
I’m thinking I should stockpile this stuff and sell it on the black market ( can I say black market ?)
My wife says I don’t have to stockpile, I’m full of it already.
Would dog piles be cheaper ? Make all dog pounds government agencies. We could have an unlimited Strategic Reserve.
Democrats would probably demand we release it into the open marker.
Well, I have to take a nature break now, to heat my home.
FreepOn
Liberty Energy is proposing to install three Liberty Modular Units which would create 15MW of renewable energy to the local grid. The facility is sited next to the Banning Wastewater Treatment Facility making it a superb location to efficiently optimize city services.
The power generated by this facility will ensure that the Banning Power District not only meets it’s mandatory Renewable Portfolio requirement but will meet the City’s renewable power needs for many years to come while at the same time managing the City’s organic waste streams in a sustainable and environmentally friendly method.
It’s on this scale at the animal level. The digester we work with in Indiana does several thousand dairy cows.
They’re good.
SA is my hometown.
As I recall, this idea was floated...er...suggested by our uber conservative Mayor McAllister more than 30 years ago.
“They’re good.”
Can you point me to a reference?
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Nothing for public consumption. I’d violate our NDA if I did. We are working with a couple of farm operations to clean up the gas and put it into the pipeline and/or generate electricity. If designed and ran properly the systems pay back in just a few of years.
Great!
Hope it’ll all come out smelling like a rose! :)
What I can do is sort of break it down for you as to the profit centers:
1. The gas itself, a commodity so we know the value there.
2. The effluent comes off in two streams:
a. Cellulose fiber. Separated and cleaned., it can be used for bedding for the animals and reduces sores and stressd, which in turn gives higher production along with eliminating bedding material costs. It can also be used for landscaping, fiberboard, or anything where cellulose fiber is used.
b. No nutrients are lost so the liquid can be applied as fertilizer. Being composted by the digester is it pH balanced, does not burn, run off, or smell. Result is a reduced fertilizer bill.
c. The water can be cleaned up and recycled, reducing the water bill.
3. The CO2 is separated out. That can be compressed and sold or fed to algae.
4. The sulfur is separated out and can be sold or field applied as a nutrient.
5. Makes the farmer compliant with manure management practices and allow him to expand.
6. Gas can be used on site or used to generate electricity to lower utility bills.
Of course this is municipal with lots of chemicals in the waste but still most of the benefits apply.
Oh yeah, I hope it does too, thanks. Ready to quit my job.
Sounds great - too good to be true?
What are the drawbacks? I’m sure there must be critics - what do they say against it?
Nothing. It literally solves the problem. The biggest part is dealing with some of the utilities. Some don’t like change and getting them to hook you up to the pipeline can be a major pain in the arse.
The other is the they must be managed correctly. They’re not terribly tricky but you have to make sure no bacteriacides get in the manure.
Other than that they are very much a miracle technology.
How do you invest in it?
Got a site with more info?
As of now I don’t know of any opportunities, or at least any that I would trust my money with. I don’t know if there will be any in the future or not because the industry is so young it’s farm-by-farm at that moment.
This is the digester co we are working with: http://www.phase3dev.com/
The only other one I know that works is GHD, who we also work with from time to time, http://www.ghdinc.net
Thanks.
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I have this idea for a device that would accelerate feces to the speed of light and hurl them into a giant fan. Before I can build it though, I have to prove that it won't poop the whole solar system.