POOP INTO POWER???
November 1, 2022
By Bill Auksel
This topic kind of flows nicely from last week’s presentation (sorry, had to do it). I conducted an experiment shortly after switching careers. My best friend had taken a new position and is now responsible for 20 branches in six states (pretty sharp guy). He asked what I was up to and I told him “I want to utilize anaerobic digestion and combined heat and power to convert biowaste into an energy source and revenue stream for municipalities.” He kind of gave a pause and said: “That’s really great Billy.”
After almost 40 years of friendship, I knew that was code for “you lost me after the first three words.” Then I said that I wanted to turn “Poop Into Power” and he quickly replied: “Oh, I get it, use the gas from the waste to run a generator– that makes sense.”
And it really does. And it really is that simple. (Note to self: Less Wordy. Less Nerdy).
We often lose sight of the fact that many of the solutions to combat the immense and complex issues of global warming and climate change can come from something so simple and so small. We generate a lot of waste that goes to what we currently refer to as Wastewater Treatment Facilities where it usually costs a lot of money (that’s why you get the bill silly!) to clean it up and release it back to the fishies.
If that facility has an anaerobic digester to create biogas which is mostly methane, it can be refined and used as a fuel for cars or trucks (a fleet of city vehicles running on CNG?), in some instances sold back into the supply chain, or used to produce electricity to run the plant (or maybe even sell!). I won’t go into all the other resources that can be recovered (and there are many) – wastewater itself contains 10 times the energy needed to treat it!
There are almost 15,000 wastewater treatment plants in the US. Not all have ADs or are suited for one, but think about the possibilities…
Now, what did we eat to make all that waste? Without arguing the virtues or ethics of anybody’s diet, there are a lot of meat eaters out there and that means lots of livestock. Livestock means poop – and lots of it!!!
I don’t need to throw a statistic at anybody to make you think about that one – I drive by several farms and lagoons every day (okay, I lied – 2,153 hog farms in Illinois). Imagine if we harnessed the power of all of that poop!?!
It really is that simple.
Some cool stuff to check out:
Poop to Power: Turning Wastewater into Clean Energy | Portland.gov
Community Hauling & Anaerobic Digesters (TEACH AD) | Energy Resources Center | University of Illinois Chicago (uic.edu)
Combined Heat & Power Services | Energy Resources Center | University of Illinois Chicago (uic.edu)
Is Poop Power The Future Of Renewable Energy? (offgridliving.net) Massachusetts farm turning cow poop into power and profit (msn.com) Turning poop into power, not pollution | PBS NewsHour
Towards resource-efficient and sustainable wastewater treatment systems – Dr. Veera Gnaneswar Gude – Illinois Media Space
Public Water Infrastructure Workshops and Webinars – SEDAC | Smart Energy Design Assistance Center at The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Public Water Infrastructure Plant Efficiency Program – ISTC (illinois.edu)