Right, many larger plants utilize anaerobic digesters to reduce the volatile waste solids of a treatment plant. Of the gases produces from digestion, 65-70% of this is methane, a gas that can be easily converted into energy by burning. This simply goes back into heating the digesters so really no energy is gained. Bacteria consuming organic matter for waste treatment is certainly not state of the art, every treatment plant in the world uses some form of this. The article does a poor job of describing how the chemical energy is harnessed. I am failing to see how this differs from any other biological waste treatment technology of today.
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Right, many larger plants utilize anaerobic digesters to reduce the volatile waste solids of a treatment plant. Of the gases produces from digestion, 65-70% of this is methane, a gas that can be easily converted into energy by burning. This simply goes back into heating the digesters so really no energy is gained. Bacteria consuming organic matter for waste treatment is certainly not state of the art, every treatment plant in the world uses some form of this. The article does a poor job of describing how the chemical energy is harnessed. I am failing to see how this differs from any other biological waste treatment technology of today.