Engineering News Blog

Engineering News

Latest news of interest to engineers. Sourced from GlobalSpec's Engineering News

Previous in Blog: Magazine Time-Travel TV: The Mission to Regenerate Doctor Who in Colour   Next in Blog: Husk Power Systems Wants to Lead "a Revolution in Electricity"
Close
Close
Close
8 comments
Rating: Comments: Nested

Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

Posted January 05, 2011 11:55 AM

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

In a finding that gives new meaning to the adage, "waste not, want not," scientists are reporting that household sewage has far more potential as an alternative energy source than previously thought. They say the discovery, which increases the estimated potential energy in wastewater by almost 20 percent, could spur efforts to extract methane, hydrogen and other fuels from this vast and, as yet, untapped resource. Their report appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Read the whole article

Reply

Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
Guru
United Kingdom - Member - Indeterminate Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: In the bothy, 7 chains down the line from Dodman's Lane level crossing, in the nation formerly known as Great Britain. Kettle's on.
Posts: 32209
Good Answers: 839
#1

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/05/2011 12:58 PM

It looks like EurekaAlert! has discovered what well-run municipal sewage works have been doing for decades - making and exporting electrical power from it. <sigh>

__________________
"Did you get my e-mail?" - "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - George Bernard Shaw, 1856
Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
Guru
Hobbies - DIY Welding - Wannabeabettawelda

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Annapolis, Maryland
Posts: 7947
Good Answers: 459
#5
In reply to #1

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/06/2011 9:40 AM

Yeah, the Nut Island plant in Quincy, Mass has been doing it since 1952 until 1998 and now the Deer Island plant near Boston has taken over that role.

http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/03sewer/html/sewditp.htm

Amazing what these young whipper-snappers think is new and novel.

Reply
Guru
United Kingdom - Member - Indeterminate Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: In the bothy, 7 chains down the line from Dodman's Lane level crossing, in the nation formerly known as Great Britain. Kettle's on.
Posts: 32209
Good Answers: 839
#6
In reply to #5

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/06/2011 10:34 AM

Too many iTurds...

__________________
"Did you get my e-mail?" - "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - George Bernard Shaw, 1856
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Guru
Technical Fields - Technical Writing - New Member Engineering Fields - Piping Design Engineering - New Member

Join Date: May 2009
Location: Richland, WA, USA
Posts: 21017
Good Answers: 795
#2

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/06/2011 3:49 AM

Yeah, but let's see the calculations: how many Btu/stool?

__________________
In vino veritas; in cervisia carmen; in aqua E. coli.
Reply
Anonymous Poster
#3
In reply to #2

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/06/2011 3:52 AM

It depends on how full of it you are, dumbxxxx.

Reply
Guru
Technical Fields - Technical Writing - New Member Engineering Fields - Piping Design Engineering - New Member

Join Date: May 2009
Location: Richland, WA, USA
Posts: 21017
Good Answers: 795
#4
In reply to #3

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/06/2011 4:14 AM

I eats me spinach! That's how I yam Energy-Star Certified.

--Popeye

__________________
In vino veritas; in cervisia carmen; in aqua E. coli.
Reply
Guru
Popular Science - Cosmology - New Member Engineering Fields - Civil Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Nuclear Engineering - New Member United States - Member - New Member

Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 714
Good Answers: 38
#7

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/06/2011 11:21 AM

At the risk of sounding juvenile...

In the new study, the scientists freeze-dried wastewater...

freeze dried poo... hahahaha... tooo funny...

__________________
Sometimes my thoughts are in a degree of order so high even I don't get it...
Reply
Guru
Hobbies - Musician - Engineering Fields - Chemical Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Instrumentation Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Moses Lake, WA, USA, Thulcandra - The Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis)
Posts: 4216
Good Answers: 194
#8

Re: Household Sewage: Not Waste, But a Vast New Energy Resource

01/06/2011 12:58 PM

Sounds like the BS researchers got one over on the people with the grant money.

__________________
"Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone." - Ayn Rand
Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
Reply to Blog Entry 8 comments

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
Copy to Clipboard

Users who posted comments:

Anonymous Poster (1); Brave Sir Robin (1); ChaoticIntellect (1); Mikerho (1); PWSlack (2); Tornado (2)

Previous in Blog: Magazine Time-Travel TV: The Mission to Regenerate Doctor Who in Colour   Next in Blog: Husk Power Systems Wants to Lead "a Revolution in Electricity"

Advertisement