A really crappy idea for alternative power
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Power from poop. It's an idea that others have thought of, and it quite possibly holds merit. Especially in developing countries where every source of power can prove vital, and extracting power from waste makes perfect sense. But could poop power our cars? Every once in a while, we read something which just needs to be reprinted as it was initially written. This is one of those times. See below:
"Our addiction to oil has gotten completely out of control, and ethanol and biodiesel require growing things to produce. Hydrogen is good, but we have to use lots of water and energy to produce it, so we should combine it with something else to use it more efficiently. Batteries are nice, but they're very heavy and expensive, and they're not as durable as many of us would like.
My proposal is this:
Think about how much raw sewage we waste when it burns so well. Why not power cars with feces? Use a fuel cell to produce water, which can be used to move fecal matter away from the vehicle's occupants and allow it to sit in a U-bend to keep odors out of the interior of the car. The feces are carried to a burn chamber and incinerated, and the heat produced is used to convert water to steam, which is then run through a turbine and used to generate electricity. The energy lost from the steam when travelling through the turbine cools it and returns it to a liquid state, allowing it to be run through the system again. These are the driving ideas behind the Turdbiodiesel!® Hydrogen Sh*t Hybrid†.
†Turdbiodiesel® Hydrogen Sh*t Hybrid is a registered trademark of DoubleNaught, Turbiodiesel!, and Entwerfer des Audis." Note: The seats feature large side bolsters for use in case of constipation.
For once in our lives... we are speechless.
[Source: VW Vortex Forums via CarDomain]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
giyad 9:04PM (5/31/2008)
speechless haha, seriously...
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Luke 12:17AM (6/01/2008)
Finally, another excuse to eat!
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GreyFlcn 12:38AM (6/01/2008)
Hrmm, that plot lines sounds familiar...
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/06/korea-dumps-a-s.html
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Dr. Kenneth Noisewater 2:02PM (6/01/2008)
WHO RULES BARTERTOWN?!?!!??!?!!?
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Sean 5:00PM (6/01/2008)
Seriously though, what are the major barriers to using fecal matter as a fuel?
As it is, sewer gas can be readily captured and compressed, since it has a high concentration of methane, a.k.a. Natural Gas (as in the stuff that can power CNG vehicles) so that's an easy one that can be done right now.
Fecal matter is more-or-less solid, so with what can it be liquified so it can be pumped around and still burned? Celluosic ethanol?
Could a standard ICE be fitted to run on this mixture, keeping in mind the large variability of the content/quality? Could a diesel? If neither, only then does a steam boiler make some sense, essentially the same setup as for water heaters/heating boilers that run on fuel oil.
The only question then is should the steam be used to generate electricity or just power the wheels directly?
As long as something can be made to run reliably on a pumpable feces mixture, I see this as possible relatively soon. (And poop would suddenly have financial value! There goes expressions like "Ain't worth a s--t!")
(I would imagine farm animal feces would be better suited for this due to their more consistent diets.)
Comments?
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Luke 5:52PM (6/01/2008)
Plenty of farmers heat their homes and barns with the gas given off from cow manure. It has been done for many years.
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=heat+manure&search_type=
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scott 7:05PM (6/01/2008)
Save it for a syn-gas pyrolysis set-up like at http://www.coskata.com/
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Wave54 7:37PM (6/01/2008)
Here's a YouTube clip (10 mins.) that shows the entire process of sending manure into 2 digesters to create bio-gas and burn it in a V-12 engine to generate enough power for 350 homes.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LwJdDSop5PU
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