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OSU's Microbial Fuel Cell Could Make Waste Treatment an Energy Source
An anonymous reader writes "A team of engineers from Oregon State University has developed a breakthrough microbial fuel cell that is capable of generating 10 to 50 times more electricity from waste than other MFCs. The team hopes that their innovation will enable waste treatment plants to not only power themselves, but also sell excess electricity back to the grid. 'If this technology works on a commercial-scale the way we believe it will, the treatment of wastewater could be a huge energy producer, not a huge energy cost,' said associate professor Hong Liu. 'This could have an impact around the world, save a great deal of money, provide better water treatment and promote energy sustainability.'"
This would greatly help out the enviornment worldwide by making waste treatment profitable, while also removing the tax burden. Here in Nassau County, N.Y., the waste treatment plants have been mis-managed for seemingly forever. The plants break down regularly causing untreated waste to be released into the already fragile eco-system. The once thriving clamming industry has been reduced to.near non-existant here on Long Island. The blame lies squarely on the untreated sewage released into the bays.
We could use an already established (and probably cheaper) technology - biogas generators to run gas turbines.
Proud of my school!
Pardon my cynicism/skepticism but I've seen so many of these 'revolutionary' articles over the years that it feels almost trite. So many times have there been breakthrough developments in technology and science that should completely transformed how the world and economy works, yet we never see this affect us on a daily level. I realize that these things take time to implement, but I feel like this will just be one of those things that you read about once, and never hear of again. Does anyone else share my sentiments?
That as soon as our shit is worth money, rather than having to pay for its disposal it will be deemed a fuel source and then 'the powers that be' will tax our shit like petrol/gas.
While I'm sure that flipping a current electrical drain(pumps, valves and such) into a electrical source will make waste treatment/disposal cheaper, I'm not sure it'd truly make it profitable.
Right now the cost sheet might be something like: Electricity $A, Manpower $B, Chemicals $C, Maintenance $D, etc... You might have a few positives - fertilizer products, chemical/mineral recovery, something, but it's insignificant.
If B+C+D is greater than our new -A, and it likely is, then waste disposal is still negative. However, in many areas sewer(waste water disposal) costs more than providing the fresh water to the home. This might reduce that cost a bit. Or they might put the extra money(after the system has recouped it's costs) into treating the water better. We're releasing a lot more hormones and drugs into the water today, for example, even after the sewage has been treated. This might save enough to keep expenses the same while cleaning the water up a touch more.
I don't read AC A human right
What do you want to bet that we will STILL be charged a sewage fee?
"Computer Scientists can count to 1024 on their fingers" (non-mutant, non-mutilatated, human computer scientists)
D. The industry is turned into a Public Utility, which is moderately regulated and expected to return a handsome if conservative long-term dividend. see also, Electric Company.
Bad enough that they're sending out treated wastewater for drinking, now we're going to have sewer electricity?
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
So that I can run it off my septic tank. Hopefully effective enough to be a worthwhile augment to my solar panel and windmill.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Why are we always waiting for something to scale up? We produce waste on a local scale. If the treatment of waste is now profitable why would anyone give up their waste. Why not just buy the device on an individual scale. One could even see this being a big hit in developing countries where electricity generation in remote areas is sketchy at best. Instead of solar cells or bicycle generators, why not poo generators? Just my USD 0.02 worth
Get some efficiency numbers that cover everything and we'll talk.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Why do these things never have a link to a peer-reviewed paper that I can read to see what they're actually doing?
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
ORST is Oregon State. OSU is Ohio State. If you don't believe me, go to osu.edu and see where you end up.
For years now, from time to time we're informed of energy breakthroughs. Similar to this item, there are bacteria used for converting cellulose to glucose and other breakthroughs. How come we never hear of these getting to production? Is it just over optimism of the original press release, or is it the energy companies conspiracy theories?
If this type of things interests you, join http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrobialFuelCells/
50 time is meaningless without some numbers, since 50 x 0.000001 watt is still wouldn't be enough to power a wrist watch.
This article is short on details. There have been many advances in MFCs over the years, why is this one such a big deal? So far, MFCs have not produced electricity on such a large scale as to be competitive with other energy producers. What is more interesting is that a moderate amount of electricity fed into the MFC can accelerate microbial breakdown of waste. This is far more important, in my opinion, because there are far better options of producing electricity but less for breaking down organic waste.
I've been running a form on Microbial Fuel Cells for a number of years. It is at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrobialFuelCells/ - come join us, if this interests you and you're willing to follow the forum rules.
Joules unlimited is converting waste into diesel or ethanol via cyanobacteria. They have a prototype going in New Mexico and are gearing up for production plants. This will enable what is normally a cost center (waste treatment) to be turned into fuel that can be sold at current market values. What is interesting is that they claim that they can produce diesel at equivalence of $30/bl. With oil currently selling at 3.5x that, the difference is PURE profit.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Please! Won't someone help this man, so burdened and weighed down by the massive stacks of cash in his pockets!
I'd like to see a study of the impact of ever-increasing amounts of perscription drugs showing up in waste water, and how damaging they are to the treatment process (assuming they're not just ignored and passed along). I suspect they would also severely impact any biological treatment systems as well.