Nanotechnology Makes Poop Power 20 Times More Efficient

by Cameron Scott

Engineers at Oregon State University have their minds in the gutter. They’re working on getting more energy from sewage, and they’ve made a discovery that boosts electricity production substantially. By applying a nanoparticle coating to the anodes in fuel cells that turn crap into currents, they increased production nearly 20-fold.

  

It may be strange to think of poop as the holy grail of anything, but poop power is a coveted form of renewable energy because it eliminates waste — which we don’t want — while producing electricity, which we do. In industrialized countries, poo power production could bring down the cost of wastewater treatment, while in developing nations, it may make it possible to treat wastewater for the first time by providing the electricity to do it. Indeed, sewage treatment systems of the future could be self-sufficient in their energy use.

In this particular potty-to-plug technology, bacteria from the sewage are placed in an anode chamber, where they consume nutrients and grow while, in the process, releasing electrons. The researchers put a nanoparticle coating on the graphite anodes – one bit of bad news: the coating was gold. Talk about flushing good money down the toilet! However, iron may work nearly as well, at least for certain kinds of bacteria.
Interesting note: OSU’s Hong Liu, an assistant professor of biological and ecological engineering, gained inspiration for the work when changing her young son’s diapers.

Japanese Company Turns Adult Diapers into Energy Source

by Brit Liggett

Wearing adult diapers just got a whole lot cooler — a Japanese company called Super Faith has developed a miraculous system that turns used diapers into a clean fuel source in about 24 hours. The elderly care industry in Japan is growing and along with it the number of disposable adult diapers. Super Faith has figured out a way to divert the smelly waste from the landfill and use it for a cleaner cause.

 

Apparently the transformation from diaper to energy source is easy as pie. You simply place the bag of dirty diapers in the top of the machine and close it up. Once set it motion it pulverizes, sanitizes and dries the material in the diapers and then forms it into small pellets. The pellets are dry, odorless and contain 5000 kcal of heat per kilogram and are meant to be used in biomass heating and electricity systems.
Super Faith — we’re wondering if this is some sort of “lost in translation” name — has reportedly installed two SFD systems at a hospital in Tokyo’s Machida area. Each is capable of turning 700 pounds of used diapers — and everything they hold — into fuel every day. It seems the system could be used for children’s diapers as well, but Super Faith is pretty set on the adult market. With the amount of adult diapers rising each year in Japan this is a great green solution to the dirty disposal problems they are facing.