Biogas Archives – The Green Optimistic

UK gears up for huge surge in new biomethane plants through 2020

Matthew Fiala — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 09:12:37 +0000

Thanks to an investment of £400m in the biomethane sector, potentially 48 new UK biomethane plants could all be in operation by January 2020 – increasing the total number of UK plants from 98 today to 146 by end of the decade. Anaerobic digestion, a process that converts organic wastes (food, manure, crop-waste and sewage) […]

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Ecotricity’s Biogas from Grass Plan Seems Plausible

Jose Aguilar — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 20:22:42 +0000

When considering biogas as a replacement for fossil-fuel-derived natural gas, or a source of fuel for power or heat, there are the arguments of suitability and efficiency. Some dispute vegetation cover conversion into biofuel deprives the biosphere of its C02 filtering capability, and some others think using biomass from land areas with potential for food […]

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Chinese Farmers Paid to Convert Livestock Wastes to Fuel and Fertilizer

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 19:11:15 +0000

China encourages its farmers to develop animal waste processing facilities, which allow conversion of wastes to fertilizer and fuel, by giving them incentives. This is to address the country’s problem on increasing animal waste due to the rapid growth of poultry and hog farming. The objective is to avoid both the release of hazardous pollution […]

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How to Make a DIY Biomass Digester and Save Lots of Money!

Nicholas Say — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 13:54:50 +0000

I threw out a tomato yesterday, and I felt horrible about it! Not that I had much choice, the poor tomato had gone past the point of no return, and the house I am living in doesn’t make compost. While most people associate composting with gardening, it can also create heating gas for your home. […]

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Biogas Production Turns to Cheese

Samantha Joe — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 17:41:35 +0000

The French are known for their cheese, and now they’re putting it to work. In Albertville, a small city on the border of France and Italy, their electricity is, in part, supplied by cheese. The power is electric, but a new biogas production facility uses byproduct of Beaufort cheese, a regional product, to generate the electricity. […]

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“HomeBiogas” Makes Fertilizer and Cooking Gas

Mila Luleva — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 19:22:57 +0000

This compact biogas unit, developed by a promising Israeli startup, can turn your organic waste into both garden fertilizer and cooking gas. If your household generates large quantities of organic waste, but not enough to make you follow our tutorial on how to build your own biogas plant, this new invention might be the right […]

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Anaerobic Digesters are Profitable for US Livestock Farms

Mila Luleva — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 14:34:05 +0000

Installing biogas recovery systems in US livestock farms is not only economically profitable, but also helps reducing of greenhouse gas emissions and underground water pollution. Livestock farms have always had that bad reputation when it comes to climate change and emissions. Every step along the way, from feeding and growing the animals, to putting them […]

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The Harriet Gas Turbine – World’s Biggest, Greenest, Most Powerful

Mila Luleva — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 20:10:19 +0000

Harriet , world’s most powerful and most majestic gas turbine, capable of powering hundreds of thousands of homes, is now under final testing. If successful, the monstrous energy generator could provide a cleaner alternative if renewables fail- but will it really? It is very safe to say that the Harriet gas turbine is nothing like any other […]

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How to Build a Biogas Plant in your Backyard

Mila Luleva — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:33:24 +0000

Anybody who generates a significant amount of bio-waste, and especially those among us with country farms, often have one single dream- and that is to have their own DIY biogas plant. The reason why not so many have succeeded in building it, however, is because it is way too easy to overestimate the dimensions, and consequently fail […]

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Kenyan Teenager Builds a Human Poop Bio-reactor to Generate Biogas

Mila Luleva — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:32:08 +0000

Brilliant high school student designed a system that can generate clean energy using the content of his classmates’ poop. What is more, this same energy is then used in cooking of their lunch. Living in the so-called “developed” world makes us forget sometimes that things like clean tap water, toilet flush, or a lunch meal at […]

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Turning Turd into Fuel is Officially Rocket Science

Ari Luis — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 01:38:58 +0000

They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The human waste from the International Space Station and ALL space missions have always been a headache for rocket scientists since the inception of the space program. The practice of all space programs was to dump the astronaut’s err, dump, together with all other trash. […]

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Biogas Digesters to Save Lives, as well as the Environment

Ari Luis — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 16:15:19 +0000

A cesspool exploded in the central Chinese city of Zhangjiajie, causing a building to collapse and injuring 15 people, according to state news agency Xinhua. The incident happened last November 23, as a man tried burning waste beside the cesspool that caused the methane from the pit to explode. Three of the injured had to […]

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Chocolate Factory Helps Environment to Have a Break

Ari Luis — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 15:16:10 +0000

A chocolate factory in the United Kingdom has been running a 200 kW generator for at least a year now by feeding it candy. Well, sort of. Nestlé’s factory in Fawdon, UK feeds 200,000 liters of waste and wash water per day plus 1,200 MT per year of residues and other waste into in a […]

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Genetically Modified E.Coli Generate Renewable Propane

Mila Luleva — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 08:59:00 +0000

Bio-engineering techniques are rapidly becoming a very powerful tool for scientists to make bacteria produce virtually anything. The latest invention comes from a Finnish research team, who modified E.coli bacteria in a way that they can generate propane. The study appeared yesterday in Nature Communications, and describes how genetically altered bacteria can be turned into […]

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Biofuels from Genetically Engineered Bacteria Struggle to Meet Lofty Expectations

Danny Harper — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 07:01:49 +0000

Still early in its evolution, the renewable energy industry is operating in large part on potential. With few revolutionary game-changers over the past few decades, it is the ideas of what is possible that fuel the sector. Synthetic biology is a prime example of this mindset. Through synthetic biology, scientists believe that by implementing advanced genetic engineering, and radically […]

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EcoVolt Turns Californian Brewery Into Biogas Generation Facility

Mila Luleva — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 14:16:12 +0000

Some time ago, we told you about EcoVolt, the system that contains bacteria that eats organic waste and generates methane. It is owned by the start-up Cambrian Innovation, and it serves as an example to what wastewater-to-energy is all about. But the guys behind Cambrian did not stop there. When EcoVolt was introduced, the owners […]

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NY’s Biggest Wastewater Treatment Plant Accepts Food Waste, Produces Biogas For Grid

Mila Luleva — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 19:18:34 +0000

New York City is about to become the proud owner of the biggest wastewater biogas plant, which will supply sustainable energy to the national grid, thanks to the Newtown Creek project. The new technology is a real breakthrough, which has the potential to convert 100% of the food waste and wastewater into gas, which is […]

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EPA Proposal Puts Biofuels on Hold

Benji Jerew — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 21:13:32 +0000

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act was meant to put biofuels, especially ethanol, into a more important role in the United States fuel mix, but a recent EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) proposal seems to have put that on hold. Ethanol, a biofuel made mostly from corn, has been a part of the United States […]

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EPA Proposes Reduction in U.S. Biofuel Requirements

Danny Harper — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 12:12:01 +0000

When ex-President George W. Bush signed an expansion of The Renewable Fuel Standard program into law, requiring oil companies to add billions of gallons of the biofuel ethanol to their gasoline each year, he predicted that it would make America “stronger, cleaner and more secure.” Fast forward six years and the expansion has proven to […]

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Fuel Made of Methane From Landfills for Sale In California

Mila Luleva — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 17:29:13 +0000

It is finally here. Fuel made of methane extracted from landfills goes on sale in 40 stations across California. Clean Energy Fuels, the company that started this, has the aim to expand the network nationwide and sell around 15 million gallons in California, only this year. The increasing popularity in vehicles that run on clean […]

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NYC Considers Food Recycling to Generate Electricity

Leigh Hutchens — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:07:06 +0000

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already made many drastic changes in the city, from banning smoking in parks and restaurants, trying to curb soda consumption, and encouraging bike riding as a mainstream mode of transportation, and he’s at it again. This time, Bloomberg has dreams of requiring New Yorkers to gather and separated […]

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Navy BioFuels Program is Just 5% Over Carbon Neutral

Benji Jerew — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:17:48 +0000

The US Military is heavily involved in technology to assure US independence, which includes biofuels and other alternatives. The thing is, if any one country has a hold on a key commodity, such as fuel, then all they need to do to maintain control, even of a country more powerful, is to restrict fuel supplies. […]

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Landfill Biogas Fully Powers Monterrey’s City Lights

Mila Luleva — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:39:23 +0000

A great example of how biogas can be successfully converted to electricity and power the lights of an entire city, is given by the Mexican metropolitan Monterrey. Year 2001 was commemorated in Monterrey‘s history by the launch of the first ever waste-to-energy project in Latin America. Since then, the equivalent of around 1 million tons […]

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Bio-Oil Hydrogen Generation Just Needed a More Efficient Process

Benji Jerew — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:31:35 +0000

We’ve been watching hydrogen fuel for a while now, and the utilization of hydrogen has seen fairly rapid development, as seen in the decreasing size of fuel cell stacks and increasing efficiency. In fact, by 2015, Toyota, BMW, and others are planning on having at least one hydrogen fuel cell model in production. Of course, […]

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How to Build an Electricity-Producing Peltier Gasifier

Mila Luleva — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:11:26 +0000

A gasifier works by decomposing organic matter in an oxygen-free environment at high temperatures and then burning the hydrogen that results from that decomposition. It is a smokeless, much cleaner way of providing electricity and/or heat without particle emissions and soot. The so-called “Fusion Jr.” Home Energy Reactor has an amazing potential to generate energy […]

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Audi’s Synthetic Fuel Produced With Solar and Wind Power

Benji Jerew — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:27:35 +0000

Audi is set to release a number of natural-gas [NG] powered vehicles this year, such as the Audi A3 Sportback TCNG. It can run on petroleum-sourced NG, which is abundant, but is also a carbon-positive fuel. In order to make these vehicles greener, a carbon-neutral fuel would be even better. To that end, Audi is […]

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Some Like it Harsh: More Biofuel from Willow Trees When “Mistreated”

Leigh Hutchens — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:52:07 +0000

British researchers have observed that willow trees typically used for green energy actually produce more than five times more biofuel if they grow diagonally, as opposed to those that typically grow vertically towards the sky. The study, detailed in Biotechnology for Biofuels, addresses the discovery that some trees have a genetic trait that produces this […]

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Was it Fraud? How Biofuels Company “Earned” Millions from EPA Loophole

Benji Jerew — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:36:23 +0000

In June 2010, a CN Rail cargo train crossed the US / Canada border 24 times, earning some $2.6 million in transportation revenue. This statement, in itself, is probably not newsworthy, as cargo trains transport some 1.8 trillion tons of freight each year throughout North America. However, when you consider the cargo, which included tankers […]

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University of Texas Doubles Electricity Output of Landfill

Benji Jerew — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:12:50 +0000

Landfills are not just an eyesore, but also produce methane as their contents decompose. Methane [CH4] is a greenhouse gas, and if not recovered, could accelerate climate change. On the other hand, recovered methane makes a great fuel, which can be used to generate electricity for the very residents and businesses contributing to the landfill. […]

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Princeton University Study Claims Synfuels Could Eliminate US Petroleum Needs

Benji Jerew — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:08:01 +0000

One of the goals of some synfuel programs is, not only to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, but to reduce our dependency on foreign petroleum imports. This is also the main reason that vehicles are becoming more fuel efficient than ever, especially since the 1970s OPEC Oil Embargo, when US consumers and the government realized how vulnerable […]

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Apple’s Data Center and the Clean Energy Paradox

Leigh Hutchens — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 07:32:57 +0000

According to the North Carolina Utility Commission, Apple intends to double the amount of fuel cells it will use at its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. In November, Apple filed to increase its fuel cell size but kept the endeavor completely confidential. Bloom Energy is installing 50 Bloom boxes for Apple to produce 10 […]

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Photobioreactor Will Provide Cheap and Efficient Energy Storage

Mila Luleva — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 15:39:08 +0000

Algae-based biofuel research was granted $910,000 to develop a bioreactor that will deliver light and collect fuel. The winning team from Cornell University consists of David Erickson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Largus Angenent, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering. The generous sponsors are the US Department of Energy (DOE), who […]

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Nobel Laureate and Photosynthesis Expert Hartmut Michel Says Biofuels Provide No Value

Leigh Hutchens — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 07:21:51 +0000

Nobel Laureate and current director of the Molecular Membrane Biology department at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, Dr. Hartmut Michel is best known for his research on photosynthesis. He is one of the foremost experts in the world on how plants turn sunlight into energy. Armed with his vast knowledge, Dr. Michel has some […]

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Green Alga Digests Cellulose, Improves Bioenergy Production

Mila Luleva — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 18:01:15 +0000

Research team at Bielefeld University, led by Professor Dr. Olaf Kruse, has discovered a plant, which receives its energy not only via photosynthesis, but also it can extract it from other plants. The ground-breaking findings for the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were published online in the journal Nature. The findings contradict current beliefs that only certain types […]

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Microsoft Testing Biogas Fuel Cell for Future Sustainable Data Centers

Benji Jerew — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 17:16:13 +0000

Well-known software company, Microsoft, in its efforts toward sustainable data centers, has teamed up with Danbury Connecticut’s FuelCell Energy to test a combination of energy technologies. “With the demand for renewable energy resources outstripping available power supplies today, Microsoft is researching new methods to help our operations become more efficient and environmentally sustainable,” said Gregg […]

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Iowa State University Grad Student Innovates on Biofuel Technology

Leigh Hutchens — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:16:05 +0000

An Iowa State University mechanical engineering graduate research assistant is working to change the future of biofuel technology. The graduate student, Nicholas Creager, prototyped a gasifer, combining elements from both gasification and fast pyrolysis to produce transportation fuels. The gasifer is a complicated two-step process, and Creager and his colleagues are busy focusing on the […]

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Algae into Biocrude – The Quick Method

Benji Jerew — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:08:00 +0000

Crude oil reserves around the world were formed millions of years ago as ancient microorganisms, such as algae and plankton, died and sank to the sea floor. Under extreme heat and compression due to sedimentary rock formation, the ancient biomass slowly decomposed anaerobically, resulting in deposits of crude petroleum buried in the strata. Biofuels researchers […]

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Biofuel Companies Miss the Point, Turn to Natural Gas

Benji Jerew — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:20:20 +0000

What is the point of biofuels development, except to eliminate carbon-dioxide [CO2] emissions? Basically speaking, biofuels emit the same amount of CO2 during combustion that was removed from the atmosphere by the biomass it was synthesized from. For example, a bioenergy crop, during photosynthesis, combines CO2 and water [H2O] to produce Sugar [C6H12O6] and Oxygen […]

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Enerkem, Canada’s New Waste-to-Biofuel Plant, Ready for Expansion

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:50:33 +0000

Enerkem, a clean-technology company founded in 2000 and based in Quebec, Canada, is currently constructing its first industrial-scale waste-to-biofuel plant at Edmonton’s Waste Management Center at the Goldbar landfill site and seeking for engineers and technical staffs to hire. It is expected to be complete by late winter, with an opening set for mid-2013, while […]

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Biofuel Production Could Benefit from New Nanobowl Construction

Benji Jerew — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 04:54:44 +0000

One of the issues in biofuel production has always been making it efficient. Various catalyst materials have been found to be very efficient, but short-lived. Under high-pressure, high-temperature, biofuel processing conditions, the catalysts start to break down and ruins their efficiency. Scientists hope to answer this problem by creating microscopic “nanobowls” to protect the catalytic […]

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Iowa Engineers Convert Cellulosic Biomass to SynGas Using Pyrolysis-Gasification

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:10:11 +0000

A huge renewable energy project is currently conducted and making its way in Iowa State University that utilizes cellulosic biomass as sources of synthesis gas or SynGas, which can be processed further to desired type of fuel. In a previous article, Iowa engineers are using pyrolysis-microbial bioconversion tandem in converting biomass to bio-oil to biofuels. […]

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High Yield Biobutanol Production via Engineered Microbes

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:58:06 +0000

Clostridium acetobutylicum, the biocatalyst in biobutanol production from biomass As scientists and researchers earnestly delve for the most environmentally sound source of energy, that is, renewable, efficiently reduces greenhouse gases emissions, and in no competition with food production, a high-yield (87% of theoretical maximum) biobutanol production using metabolically engineered bacterium comes into the scene. Biobutanol, a liquid […]

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Biofuel Policy Ammended by EU, Biowastes Favored

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 07:35:07 +0000

Just a few weeks after the publication of a study questioning its policy that prioritizes first generation biofuels, the European Union (EU) has changed its course, focusing now on biowastes rather than food crops as biofuel source. According to Roger Harabbin, a BBC environment analyst, the previous policy was easily accepted by other environmentalists before […]

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Fuel Cells in Ontario Wastewater Treatment Plant Producing Cleaner Electricity

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:19:52 +0000

From anaerobic digestion of biomass to produce biogas, which in turn is burned to produce electricity and power up their plant in California, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) is now venturing into utilization of fuel cells in its Ontario plant for a cleaner and more direct means of producing renewable energy. Due to tighter […]

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“BioRisk” Explains Efficient and Sustainable Land Management For Biofuel Production

Mila Luleva — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:17:16 +0000

Ever since the production of feedstock for bioenergy gained popularity, the big discussion about indirect land-use change started. There is never enough land available for bioenergy crop production due to various environmental, economic and social constraints. Interestingly, however, a team of 11 scientists from seven European countries and the US, published a study in the […]

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Study Claims EU Biofuel Plan Only Benefits Big Bosses, Not The Environment

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:35:46 +0000

In its plan to increase biofuel share to 10% by 2020, the European Union (EU) seems to favor the interests of profit-minded big industrial companies rather than the reduction of carbon footprint and fight against climate change. This is the claim of a recent study by Simone Vieri of the University of La Sapienza in […]

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Biofuel Gives Higher Purpose to Tequila Plants

Mila Luleva — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:53:26 +0000

If a greenhouse filled with agave plants and pots of cacti is not enough to attract attention, the sign saying “tequila” placed right next to them might just do the job. John Cushman, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Reno has no intentions to make the Mexican “liquid gold.” Although expert producers of […]

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Methane-Producing Microbes as New Source of Renewable Energy

Maria Reyes — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 05:59:12 +0000

Researchers from Stanford and Penn State are studying microbes that can convert carbon dioxide to methane using electricity. These microbes could be potential sources of renewable energy. Methane is the main component of natural gas, which is a fossil fuel. Many organic compounds used in industry are derived from fossil fuels. The goal of the […]

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No-Mix Vacuum Toilet – A New System That Turns Human Waste Into Energy

Mike Sandru — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:14:32 +0000

Using human waste for electricity and fertilizers… Ok, I get the fertilizer part – after all, our ancestors did use animal waste to make their cultivated soils more productive – but electricity? Yes, scientists have been working at it for some time now and it appears it’s not only feasible, but also incredibly profitable for […]

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Copper-Gold Nanoparticles to Help Transform CO2 into Methane

Mike Sandru — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:39:26 +0000

Here’s a good question for all you ecologists out there: what do we do with the carbon dioxide emissions after capturing them? As it frequently happens, MIT took up the challenge and came with a “golden”eff idea: a hybrid-copper-gold nanoparticle to transform CO2 into methane (CH4). Now why is that important – coming up with […]

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Apple to Build 4.8MW Fuel Cell System Powered by Biogas at Its NC Data Center

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:02:26 +0000

If you remember, we’ve been talking about Apple’s new and bold green statement recently. At that time we’ve been telling you about the plans to power their new North Carolina data center with solar panels and biogas. Now, the company that Steve Jobs saved from peril in 1997 is building world’s largest private owned fuel […]

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SUGAR Freeze: Boeing’s Future LNG-Powered, Ultra-Efficient Aircraft

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:43:54 +0000

It’s a predictable fact that future aircraft won’t be as polluting as today’s aircraft is, but where technology will take us is yet to be decided. For that matter, Boeing is predicting that the future fuel for planes will be liquefied natural gas (LNG), and their idea is being supported by NASA, whose specialists think […]

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Self-Sustaining Wastewater Processing Plant Powered by Methane

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:11:56 +0000

Siemens Water Technologies engineers have invented a technology that creates enough methane from purifying sludgy water to power the processes of a wastewater treatment plant. They even set up a pilot facility in Singapore.

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Bill Gates Funds Project That Produces Biodiesel and Methane From Human Sludge in Ghana

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:56:17 +0000

Q: What do human poop, fuel cells, clean energy and Bill Gates have in common? A: a $1.5 million grant to Columbia University professor Kartik Chandran. He is to develop a "Next-Generation Urban Sanitation Facility" in Accra, Ghana along with Waste Enterprisers and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The project will turn fecal sludge into biodiesel and methane. Gross, isn't it?

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New Solid Oxide Fuel Cell System Provides Cheap Grid Energy From CNG and Biogas

Mike Sandru — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:46:59 +0000

VTT, the Technical Research Centre of Finland began testing a large-scale prototype of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that, according to the organization, will provide cheap and efficient grid power from biogas and natural gas. Using a single 10 kW planar SOFC stack, the system is capable of generating clean energy for a typical apartment block throughout an entire year.

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Xylofuel Using Cow Rumen Microbes to Transform Hydrogen and CO2 Into Alcohol and Gasoline-Like Fuels

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:08:39 +0000

Scientists at Xylofuel LLC, a startup from Columbia, MD, discovered microorganisms that convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen to alcohols and hydrocarbons similar to the components of gasoline. The gases are inexpensive to produce as industrial byproducts or from heating or anaerobic digestion of biomass. The fuels produced by microbial isolates include hexane and other medium length alkanes.

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Chinese Huishan Dairy Factory Implementing Huge 5.6 MW Biogas-Powered Generator

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:28:05 +0000

A dairy farm in China is about to implement the world's largest system for converting methane from fermenting cow manure into electricity. The Huishan Diary has imported a GE Jenbacher engine and adapted it for use with biogas, expecting to generate as much as 5.6 megawatts of power.

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Toronto's New Garbage Truck Fleet Running on Waste-Derived Biogas

Mike Sandru — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:24:13 +0000

The City of Toronto brought into the spotlight the latest addition to its green fleet of waste and recycling collecting service. The new garbage truck can run on converted biogas obtained from the picked up organic material waste.

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India And The U.S. to Collaborate on Shale Gas and Clean Energy Project

Mike Sandru — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:29:16 +0000

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and the U.S. President, Barack Obama, announced that India and the United States have agreed to join forces on energy projects, among which shale gas and clean energy, on a press conference on Monday

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Permafrost Bacteria Could Make Biogas Production Available In Colder Regions

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 07:59:26 +0000

People living in warm climates have been used to using biogas since ages, with even the Assyrians using it to heat their baths 3,000 years ago. But in the colder regions such as Alaska, biogas is harder to produce, since temperatures do not allow for bacteria to ferment the organic waste.

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Didcot, UK, Heated by Odorless Human Waste Biogas

Mike Sandru — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:04:25 +0000

Approximately 200 households in the town of Didcot, UK now benefit from gas produced out of human waste. Despite being generated at a sewage station, the gas is highly purified and has no odor.

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Russia's First Biofuel Plant To Be Built In Siberia Next Year

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:23:23 +0000

If you thought that only the Americans and the Europeans have plans to green themselves up, then you were wrong. Russia, still one of the world's biggest economical powers, plans to start building the country's first biofuel plant in Siberia.

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Siloxane Blocking Development of Biogas Industry: Graphite Filters Solve The Problem

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:25:52 +0000

Siloxane is a carbon-silicon compound found inside various chemical products on the market and then released into the air when methane is produced. Its existence threatens the biogas machinery, being able to cause serious damage.

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Guinea Pigs Producing Biogas for Peruvian Family

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:09:57 +0000

More than 400 pounds of guinea pig poo is processed into methane and a liquid product that then farmers can feed the plants with. They use the classic anaerobic digestion.

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California Egg Farm Installs Chicken Poo-Powered Fuel Cell

Mircea Sandru — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:04:11 +0000

FuelCell Energy, one of the companies promoting alternative energy sources, announced the sale of a chicken poo-powered fuel cell to an egg farm in California. The 1.4-megawatt fuel cell system will produce enough energy to supply the farm's operations.

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Bio-Bug Becomes Britain's First Car to Run on Methane Gas Produced from Human Waste

Mike Sandru — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:10:30 +0000

The team modified a 2 litre VW Beetle convertible to run on both compressed methane gas and conventional fuel. It can also travel 10,000 miles by the power produced from sewage collected from just 70 homes.

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Milk Company From Ukraine Producing 1.3 MW of Power With 4,000 Cows And a CHP System

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:05:14 +0000

From the former block of communist countries, Ukraine stands up and produces energy from the cow farms they own. The Ukrainian Milk Company Ltd, near Kiev, the country's capital, has just implemented a CHP (combined heat and power) generator powered by 4,000 cows.

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70 Mumbai Buses Running on Hydrogen Mixed With CNG by End of 2010

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:05:25 +0000

India's largest bus manufacturer, Ashok Leyland, is going to implement a 6-liter engine that will run on clean natural gas (CNG) enriched with hydrogen, making it the first bus powered by an internal combustion engine aided by hydrogen.

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Bacteria Could Make Sewage Treatment Plants Turn From High Energy Consumers to Producers

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:42:17 +0000

Sewage treatment plants always consume energy to filter water (around 44 watt-hours per day per person). They use three types of bacteria and energy to pump oxygen for the first type of bacteria and methanol for the second. Adding the fact that methanol is also produced through an energy-intensive process... you can pull the conclusions.

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New Sources of Combustible Ice Could Power China for 90 Years

Mike Sandru — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:27:13 +0000

China has recently discovered major deposits of combustible ice on the tundra of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. According to the researchers, this new source of low-emission fuel could power China for 90 years.

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Colorado Company Uses Concentrated Solar Power to Transform Biomass into Gasoline

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:09:20 +0000

Sundrop Fuels, a Louisville, CO, -based company has developed a method of using concentrated solar power to heat the biomass to 1200 or 1300 ºC, and even produce syngas more efficiently than the standard technology, which uses only 30 to 35 percent of the biomass.

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Hell's Gate in Turkmenistan: Burning Precious Energy for Nothing Since 1971

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:57:18 +0000

This hole (initially a gas-filled cave) has been named "Hell's Gate", for obvious reasons. It was discovered when some geologists have been searching for natural gas, in Turkmenistan's Karakum desert, in Darvasa. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about 50-100 meters.

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Biomass Plant to Generate 49KW of Green Electricity to 50,000 Homes

Mike Sandru — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:39:10 +0000

The project led by Bio Energy Investments will be constructed on the banks of River Tees in Teesside. It will generate enough energy to power up to 50,000 homes and will save 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually through the use of carbon neutral woodchip.

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Dutch Company Generates Cow-Manure Power to 1,100 Homes

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:35:40 +0000

I have been to the Netherlands this summer, in my honeymoon. While you travel down their free and super-strictly speed limited highways (120km/h), you'll see a lot of cows on the left... and on the right (the pic above is taken by my wife).

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Innovative Powder Catalyst Used to Transform Methane into Methanol

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:43:36 +0000

Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have invented a material in the form of a powder than can transform methane into methanol, which is easier to transport and handle.

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Natural Gas Powered Fuel Cells Project Presented to US Congress

Cristi — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:00:10 +0000

ClearEdge Power has addressed a proposal to the Congress for a new and interesting project. They found a way to obtain heat and power with fuel cells working on natural gas. The investment can be payed back after a six or seven year period as mentioned by Bill Sproull, senior vice president of the company.

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Efficient Electricity Production from Onion Juice

Cristi — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:00:34 +0000

The future life style is quite different than we could imagine right now. Many experts predict that we will not need to transport our energy around the world as it will be produced in our community.

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Waste From Beer Factories Turned into Energy

Cristi — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:05:13 +0000

Wolfgang Bengel and his partners have found a way to efficiently recycle the waste grains and wastewater and use them to fuel the beer factories.

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Complex Algae-Powered Energy System Made by a 15-Year Old

Cristi — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:21:36 +0000

This years scholarship prize of $20,000 of Invent Your World Challenge went to a 15 year old fellow from Texas called Javier FernÃƒÆ’¡ndez-Han, who proved us all that renewable energy is the way we should direct our creativity upon.

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Innovative Biogas-Powered CHP Network to be Installed in German Town

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:28:40 +0000

LÃƒÆ’¼nen, a North Western German town is about to give an example of distributed recycled energy network, by installing a biogas plant to supply 30 to 40% of its energy needs (including heat).

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Carbon Neutral Methane Obtained Cheaply From CO2 and Water

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:11:28 +0000

We all know most of world's greatest inventions have been made by mistake. A team of researchers from the Penn State, led by Bruce E.Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, discovered how to produce methane from water and carbon dioxide. Here's what he says: "We were studying making hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells and we kept getting all this methane. We may now understand why."

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First Biogas Plant That Runs on Waste Biomass Feedstocks

Cristi — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:26:51 +0000

Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Dresden have recently developed a biogas plant that utilizes waste materials such as corn stalks and other agricultural waste.

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Ontario Region Switches Coal with Biomass

Florin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:27:44 +0000

The company that produces the energy in Ontario, OPG - Ontario Power Generation started the process of finding providers for biomass fuel, by sending a "call for expression of interest" to those interested to change the coal to biogas for producing the electricity in the region.
The company is looking forward to create the list with...

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New Type of Sand to Store Methane Safely and Efficiently

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:28:45 +0000

Hydrogen gas is the most clean-burning gas known to man. Yet methane, even if it's a sibling of petrol, got its way through the alternative fuels industry, and it is more widely used nowadays, as fuel prices oscillate between skyscrapers and small houses. Methane is also one of the cleanest burning fuels, and that makes it viable for a while. Methane reservoirs still exist all around the world, and there's plenty of it to help make a clean transition to hydrogen.

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UK Researchers Use Bacteria to Generate Hydrogen from Landfills

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 08:21:39 +0000

As you already know, Earth's ecosystems are in a closed-loop. Researchers from the University of Birmingham have created a closed loop hydrogen energy eco-system based on two types of bacteria and a twist of fuel cell technology. How did they do that?

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65% More Biofuel From Chinese Rice Straw

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:32:48 +0000

A team of chinese researchers discovered a way to a new biofuel. Their new study, scheduled for the July 16 issue of ACS' bimonthly journal Energy & Fuels, describes a way to boost production of biofuel from rice straw by almost 65 percent.

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Pure Green Energy From Cow Farms

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:37:56 +0000

Some Washington University engineers using an advanced imaging technology found out that vigorous mixing helps microorganisms turn farm waste into a source of alternative energy. Hog and cow manure is a persistent pollutant from very large, industrial-sized barns and feed lots, but can become a very useful resource of methane when broken down by bacteria. […]

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How to Build a Backyard Biogas Plant

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:33:33 +0000

Introduction The success or failure of any biogas plant mainly depends upon the quality of how it is constructed. To construct a good biogas plant, you should not only respect the dimensions as indicated on the drawing but also follow the correct construction method. Hereunder, in a step-by-step fashion, the right construction method of the […]

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New Invention: Bacteria Eating CO2 From The Atmosphere

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:07:15 +0000

A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said Thursday he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel. Craig Venter (in the picture), a famous geneticist, announced his “fourth-generation fuel” project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California. Between […]

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The Power of Fart :)

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:21:11 +0000

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Biogas Production Principle

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 07:31:48 +0000

Biogas is generated when bacteria degrade biological material in the absence of oxygen, in a process known as anaerobic digestion. Since biogas is a mixture of methane (also known as marsh gas or natural gas, CH4) and carbon dioxide it is a renewable fuel produced from waste treatment.

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