Poop into Power!

BillW@honeywell

Before I was with Honeywell, I was involved with toxic and combustible gas detection systems, and sewage treatment plants were one of my biggest customers. Talk about "Modern Marvels", today's hi-tech sewage and water treatment plants are true wonders, and so few know or care anything about them. In one plant, the methane off-gassing from the digesters ran 3 huge Nordberg radial diesel engines on equally monster pumps than pumped the treated effluent several miles into New York Harbor. Cool stuff!

leo g_13

How's about this for heating your home?

http://environment.about.com/od/renewableenergy/a/animalwaste.htm

Leo G

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ALH_4

There are so many easier ways

There are so many easier and better smelling ways to save fuel. I would much rather see any city subsidize SDHW systems than try to run boilers on cat waste. :-&

-Andrew

Steamhead (in transit)

Or human waste

as collected in sewage plants? This has the advantage that it's free....

But some people just don't get it. Read this:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=144

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ALH_4

From what I can tell

Wastewater engineers simply know very little about heat, and a lot about redundancy. After all, you dont want your neighborhood lift station going down and sewer backing up into everyone's basement. Redundancy is a way of life, and it seems to carry over into a lot of what they do.

-Andrew

hr

I'd like to learn more about

the large heat pump system that use the sewer water to exchange. Norway I believe?

hot rod

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BillW@honeywell

Methane

Methane from the digesters in sewer plants has been reclaimed for years, but only to run pumps and generators for the plants, otherwise, it just gets flared off. Seems to be some value here, but often this methane is contaminated with hydrogen sulfide,making it very corrosive. You would think that someone out there would be working on this, not only from sewer plants, but from cow and pig manure, and poultry manure as well.

Brad White_9

Proof once more Bill-

You really know your s***.

Constantin

Sour gas is a problem...

... that microturbines were supposed to solve. I have no idea where they are these days, but it was an interesting concept to study.

Seattle Nick

Do you think those Nordbergs are still running out there?

Here are a few wastewater projects making power:

King County Fuel Cell

Other county facilites



Nordbergs Galore

Thx for the html tips Constantine!

Seattle Nick

And my favorite engine running on digester gas here:

installation. The Fairbanks Morse OP, the engine that powered half of the WW2 submarines, including the Wahoo...(may her crew rest in peace)
The OP is still being built in Beloit, WI, not bad for a design that debuted in 1938!

BillW@honeywell

WOW! There's some REAL power, guys!

Those Nordbergs ran like a swiss watch, and were fantastic machines. This web site gets some great pix, feast your eyes, Wallies! My old ship had Fairbanks-Morse Opposed Piston diesels, and they are still running 30+years hence! Besides marine engines, they were also used in locomotives from switchers to passenger engines. Tremendous power in a small package. I'll will check the next time I go by that plant and see it they are still there.

Seattle Nick

I'd be interested to hear if they are Bill, bring your camera too! The 50's and 60's were the Golden Age for large stationary engines, in the US anyway. Lots of the old brands have bit the dust by now.
During the war they produced one OP per day at the height of production.
An interesting thing with the construction of the OP is that the cooling water travels though the exhaust manifolds first, then to a muff around the water jacket and out.They produce surprisingly little heat compared to a 4 cycle spark-ignited engine. The exhaust temps of that treatment plant engine seem to stay below 900 degrees while a comparable 4 cycle engine will be up in the 1100 - 1300 degree range. Valves have to be stellite faced, pyromet/inconel when you play in that range. The OP has no valves of course, being piston ported. A boiler of sorts, right?