Burning Disposable Diapers as Fuel
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.29.07
In Japan, as the population ages the use of diapers is increasing dramatically and they are piling up in the health care facilities. Usually they are burned, using a lot of fuel. Now Super Faiths, a Japanese company, is turning them into fuel by fermenting them with aerobic bacteria, evaporating excess water and heat treating to destroy pathogens. The result is a fuel with capable of generating 5,000 kcal/kg. We don't know how many kcal were needed for evaporation and heat treatment, or what comes out of the tailpipe when it is burned, but they say that treating 300kg of diapers per day will save 40 tons of CO2 per year. In America as in Japan, this is certainly a growing and dependable resource. ::Diginfo
Accomplishes the same thing as washing a cloth diaper, where the loose baby excrement is first flushed down the the terlet and the diaper is then washed in a washing machine, basically sending all human waste to the treatment plant for "aerobic bacterial treatment". Now dry the diaper and burn it for energy! That's real progress.