Towards an off-grid fecal sludge treatment unit: demonstrating energy positive thermal treatment

Gates Open Research

article

Taylor Myers¹  Lars Schoebitz¹  Stuart Woolley¹  Jaime Sanchez Ferragut¹  Jimmy Thostenson¹  Kathy Jooss¹  Jeffery Piascik¹  August Frechette²  Nico Hotz²  Brian R. Stoner²  Jeffery Hallowell¹ 

[1]Biomass Controls

[2]Duke University

关键词: fecal sludge;    fecal sludge treatment;    thermochemical;    energy independence;    energy neutrality;    energy positivity;    thermal;    fecal sludge treatment unit;    energy generation;   

DOI  :  10.12688/gatesopenres.12929.1

学科分类：电子与电气工程

来源: American Journal Of Pharmtech Research

【 摘 要 】

Background: There is an unmet demand for community-scale fecal sludge treatment units (FSTUs) that serve communities of between 1,000 and 50,000 people and are able to operate in non-sewered and off-grid environments. An emerging industry standard for FSTUs includes as a key criteria energy independence in steady-state. Theoretically, there is sufficient thermal energy available in fecal sludge to provide the electrical power needed to run the FSTU. However, such a system had never been implemented. Methods: Biomass Controls has previously demonstrated the thermal treatment of fecal sludge using the Biogenic Refinery, a thermal FSTU deployed in three sites in India. In this article we describe testing where a Biogenic Refinery was paired with a thermal fluid heat exchanger and organic Rankine cycle generator to generate electrical power. Results: This Biogenic Refinery combined heat and power system generated sufficient electrical power to offset electrical parasitic loads in steady-state operation and produce a surplus of 1.2 kWe. Conclusions: The results of the study demonstrate that there is an excess of energy available and reliable mechanisms to generate electrical energy using an FSTU. Additional steps are necessary to transition to a true off-grid FSTU.

【 授权许可】

CC BY