 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Wastewater Could Treat Itself, Power City
Toronto ON (SPX) Sep 21, 2004 The energy stored in Toronto's municipal wastewater could be harnessed to run water treatment facilities and contribute power to the city grid, says new U of T research. The study, published in the August issue of the Journal of Energy Engineering, is the first to measure the energy content of the raw municipal wastewater in the Ashbridges Bay, North Toronto, Highland Creek and Humber plants. The research revealed that the wastewater contained enough organic material to potentially produce 113 megawatts of electricity or close to 990 million kilowatt hours a year. "With a 20 per cent recovery of that potential energy into electricity, the wastewater treatment plants could produce enough electricity for their own operation," says civil engineering professor David Bagley, who conducted the research with lead author and PhD candidate Ioannis Shizas. "Any recovery of potential energy above that can be returned to the grid." Bagley and Shizas used bomb calorimetry, a technique that measures the heat content of materials, to determine the amount of energy stored in wastewater's organic matter. The city plants currently use aerobic treatment, a process by which microbes decompose organic matter in the presence of oxygen. By using anaerobic digestion instead, in which microbes decompose matter without oxygen, the process' byproduct of biogas - methane-rich gas with an energy content approximately 75 per cent that of natural gas - could become a valuable energy source in the future. "We're moving towards a future where we see our wastewaters and other wastes as resources," says Bagley. "If electricity costs go up, like they have in places like California, this could be a cost-effective and renewable energy source." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links University of Toronto SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Europe Debates Nuclear Energy
Washington (UPI) Jan 11, 2006European Union countries are starting to rethink their opposition to nuclear energy amid a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas supplies, but energy analysts say a switch still lacks a green light. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
