Poo Power Expands: Vancouver-area Sewage Treatment Plant to Produce Biogas
by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 07.29.08
In that wastewater is a plentiful potential energy source. At least that’s what some companies are hoping for. Photo by JL Johnson.
Waste-to-energy projects seem to be popping up more and more: A number of cities are experimenting with either waste-to-ethanol, waste gasification, or waste-to-electricity facilities. A recent report regaled us with the details of how cow manure could provide up to 3% of US electricity generation.
Some areas have investigated the power hidden in human excrement: A new project outside of Vancouver, British Columbia is one such facility hoping that poo power can displace at least a portion of fossil fuels. There's not too much solid on this one yet, in terms of actual performance, but here are the details:
Human Waste-to-Biogas Pilot Project
The Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant Biomethane Project, is a pilot project being developed by Terasen Gas, QuestAir Technologies and Metro Vancouver which will produce biogas from from human waste and pump into into the area’s natural gas distribution system. This will be the first human waste-to-energy facility in British Columbia.
The $1.1 million project is expected to “provide enough energy for 100 homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 500 tonnes each year,” according to Terasen’s press release. The project is expected to operational by July 2009.
With this sort of project on the increase, I may have to do something which I thought I had safely left behind in grade school: Brush up on my toilet humor.
via :: Terasen, :: EcoGeek, and :: The Vancouver Sun
Waste-to-Energy
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Municipal Waste-to-Ethanol Plant Planned for Reno, Nevada
PlascoEnergy to Build North America’s First Waste Gasification Plant
Holy Cow! Manure-to-Biogas Could Generate 3 Percent of US Electric Demand
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$1.1 million to eliminate just 500 tons of emissions per year? I wonder how many years the plant will operate for. Certainly this is a good way to reduce waste and a good source of extra energy, but I wonder how much it costs per ton over the life of the plant.
It seems like it would run for the life of the sewage treatment plant. 50 years?
500 tons/year for 50 years would be 25,000 tons. The $1.1 million probably doesn't include maintenance costs, but let's assume that they are 10% of the initial investment. That would be $110,000 per year, for 50 years would be $5.5 million, plus the $1.1 million investment would be $6.6 million. Divide by 25,000 and we have about $264/ton. Is that good? Does anyone have something we can compare that to?
Anyone have any better estimates of life expectancy and operating costs?
Most of the homes in our area are heated by natural gas. How does that $1.1 million compare to the cost of natural gas to heat 100 homes for the next 50 years?
My winter gas bills are usually around $200/mo for four months. My hot water and stove also run on natural gas. I should know what my annual gas costs are, but let's conservatively assume that I spend $20/mo for 8 months and $200/mo for four months, or $960/year. Let's round up to $1,000 for simplicity. Over 100 homes, that's $100,000/yr, and $5,000,000 over 50 years. About an 11-year payoff? Seems reasonable. And I would think that that's a conservative estimate, not counting inflation in the price of natural gas.
Presumably the sewer system would be paid for the gas generated, so that money would go toward maintaining the system, minimizing sewer fees, and would eventually help to defray the cost of building a new sewage treatment plant. Seems like a winning solution all around.
That is an incredibly small investment to get the project going! AND it will be done by July 09?! Is this really a government project?
Whoever is taking the lead on this should do more. With a minimal cost and decent return on results they should consider larger scale project if it turns out to be a success.