Saving money on sewage treatment

A regular sewage plant for  28,000 people costs about €225,000 a year to run according to figures from Germany. Installing a new form of digester unit (many sewage plants don’t have them) made by IGB, shortened the digestion process from 30-50 days down to 5-7 days. In addition there is reduction in the residue by about 1/3 which reduces disposal cost by €70,000 a year. In addition, sewage plants us a lot of electricity in the process. The biogas produced by the digester can provide enough electricity to reduce costs by a further €100,000 a year. A bit of a no-brainer?

The full article is here.

Biodiesal from non-food crops on marginal land that is more productive

Ardent Energy Group has formed a sub-branch in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia to grow jatropha and castor oil plant. A 50-year lease on the land includes permission to operate an oil crushing plant and biodiesel processing facility has been given on marginal land in Western Ethiopia

Jatropha and castor were selected as the first source of oil by AEG due to the resiliency of the plant, its ability to grow in marginal soil conditions and the extremely high-yield of oil to hectare as compared to other crops such as soybean. The ability of jatropha to thrive in harsh climates is also favorable, as the plant will not be competing with land that could otherwise be used for food production.

Biomass made into electricty produces more miles than bio-ethanol

Electric vehicles using biomass converted into electricity travelled 81 percent farther per area of cropland than vehicles with internal combustion engines running on  ethanol, researchers in California found.

A small sport utility vehicle could do 36,000 km on the energy produced from a hectare of switch-grass converted into ethanol. But converting that biomass into electricity allowed a battery-powered SUV to get 56,000 km on the highway, the study published in Science magazine said.

But we do not yet produce enough switch grass to run power stations nor is the development of 2nd generation  bio-fuels sufficiently advanced for this to be a current reality. But certainly the idea that electric cars could prove to be more efficient than those run on bio-fuels is something to bear in mind.

Source: http://planetark.org/wen/52798

2 questions – one answer!

Where did oil come from? Bacteria used carbon di oxide/photosynthesis to make it. They died taking the oil to the bottom of the sea where it became overlaid with sediments which eventually became rocks with oil trapped beneath.

How do we sequester (trap) carbon dioxide produced by coal fired power stations? Collect the CO2 and pass it through a medium containing bacteria and let them turn it into oil to be used as biodeisal, plastics and other oil based products! This is what MPX Energia, are doing in Brazil with the help of the local university, to see which bacteria will be the most effect in these conditions. It should be on-stream by 2011

Link to article.

Link to map

Sewage could be used to heat half the homes in Britain

Bio-gas – in particular methane produced from sewage and other organic waste – could be added to the natural gas system as the gas from the North Sea begins to run out. They do it elsewhere in Europe so why not here? It would also help us to reach our renewable energy targets. Click here for the full article from the Telegraph

Tree-living fungus that manufactures diesel could be new source of green energy

More information here

Samso: The isle of plenty

Want to know how green it can get? Samso, an island off Denmark took up the challenge.

Ten years ago, islanders drew nearly all their energy from oil and petrol brought in by tankers and from coal-powered electricity transmitted to the island through a mainland cable link. Today that traffic in energy has been reversed. Samsingers now export millions of kilowatt hours of electricity from renewable energy sources to the rest of Denmark. In doing so, islanders have cut their carbon footprint by a staggering 140 per cent. And what Samso can do today, the rest of the world can achieve in the near future, it is claimed.

Check out this Guardian article to see more. Then click on the piccie to see the sights!

Fuel From Food Waste: Bacteria Provide Power

Researchers have combined the efforts of two kinds of bacteria to produce hydrogen in a bioreactor, with the product from one providing food for the other. In addition, the some of these bacteria produce enzymes (chemicals that speed up chemical reactions without being part of it).  These can be used to scavenge for precious metals in the waste from fuel cells in the car industry.

The experimental work is being carried out at Birmingham University with Modern Waste Ltd and EKB Technology Ltd to form Biowaste2energy Ltd, which will develop and commercialize this waste to energy technology.

You can read the full article here. It comes from Science Daily, an online paper about Science and the environment in the news.