Power from Trash

This is a very useful and interesting development.

A group of scientists have created a portable refinery that efficiently converts food, paper and plastic trash into electricity. The machine, designed for the U.S. military, would allow soldiers in the field to convert waste into power and could have widespread civilian applications in the future.
Tactical biorefinery
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“This is a very promising technology,” said Michael Ladisch, the professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University who leads the project. “In a very short time it should be ready for use in the military, and I think it could be used outside the military shortly thereafter.”

The “tactical biorefinery” processes several kinds of waste at once, which it converts into fuel via two parallel processes. The system then burns the different fuels in a diesel engine to power a generator. Ladisch said the machine’s ability to burn multiple fuels at once, along with its mobility, make it unique.

Roughly the size a small moving van, the biorefinery could alleviate the expense and potential danger associated with transporting waste and fuel. Also, by eliminating garbage remnants - known in the military as a unit’s “signature” - it could protect the unit’s security by destroying clues that such refuse could provide to enemies.

Researchers tested the first tactical biorefinery prototype in November and found that it produced approximately 90 percent more energy than it consumed, said Jerry Warner, founder of Defense Life Sciences LLC, a private company working with Purdue researchers on the project. He said the results were better than expected.

See. People are constantly inventing ways to usefully recycle and provide alternate energy. I suspect that in a few years, we’ll see more and more amazing inventions like this. People are focused on it now. When our attention is on something, we often produce great things.

This technology has been around for 50 years.  Anything that produces methane burns real well in generators cost effectively.  Farms and factories all over Europe, India, china and many 3rd world countries have Waste-Energy Generators. We are just now starting to do it in the US. Not for the energy, but for the fact that it gets rid of the farm smell. Then energy is just an added bonus to help justify the cost.

They work well and the energy is cheap…that is until you have to transport the fuel.  As soon as you have to put the waste in a truck, it becomes uneconomical and polluting. As such, it will never be a scalable technology.  This limits its use severely.

Now that water machine that you posted…now that is amazing.

Testify!

Posted by  on  02/06  at  07:32 AM

Yes, but it sounds like this one is much better than usual since it gives back 90% energy vs the fuel. That’s pretty impressive.

And transport shouldn’t be a problem for the military, as they are going to be using base waste.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  02/06  at  11:56 AM

Is this another version of thermal depolymerization?

Posted by Yehudit  on  02/07  at  01:17 AM
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