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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.
From TFA:
The system also works better than an alternative approach to creating electricity from wastewater, based on anaerobic digestion that produces methane. It treats the wastewater more effectively, and doesn’t have any of the environmental drawbacks of that technology, such as production of unwanted hydrogen sulfide or possible release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
... whatever
Proud of my school!
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.
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
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?