Existing technology can produce biodiesel fuel from municipal sewage sludge that is within a few cents a gallon of being competitive with conventional diesel refined from petroleum, according to an article in ACS' Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal.THIS MIGHT MAKES NYC POTENTIALLY THE BIODIESEL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD: NOT ONLY DOES NYC HAVE A LOT PEOPLE PRODUCING A LOT OF RAW SEWAGE, NY'ERS ARE SOME OF THE MOST FULL OF "RAW SEWAGE" PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!
Sludge is the solid material left behind from the treatment of sewage at wastewater treatment plants.
David M. Kargbo points out in the article that demand for biodiesel has led to the search for cost-effective biodiesel feedstocks, or raw materials. Soybeans, sunflower seeds and other food crops have been used as raw materials but are expensive.
Sewage sludge is an attractive alternative feedstock - the United States alone produces about seven million tons of it each year.
Sludge is a good source of raw materials for biodiesel. To boost biodiesel production, sewage treatment plants could use microorganisms that produce higher amounts of oil, Kargbo says. That step alone could increase biodiesel production to the 10 billion gallon mark, which is more than triple the nation's current biodiesel production capacity, the report indicates.
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7 million tons does not sound like it would supply enough fuel to run America, not nearly enough.
ReplyDeleteAm I wrong?
By the way, I am aware that the conversion ratio would not be 1 to 1.
ReplyDeleteHowever, how many gallons of raw sewage does it take to make a gallon of fuel?
post says USA could produce 10 billion gallons.
ReplyDeletea nice round number.
ISn't it weird no one has done this yet? If it were cost competitive, it would already be done.
ReplyDeleteIt's like solar and wind power -- At what cost, no one wants to say.
I don't know a lot about fuels, but I have wondered for several years why this hasn't been used. It's a free, renewable (icky) source that will never run out. Of course, the right people have their money in other things, so I doubt they'd encourage something like this. You can very simply build your own unit, and maybe they don't like that.
ReplyDelete