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

Publication ,  Journal Article
Myers, T; Schoebitz, L; Woolley, S; Sanchez Ferragut, J; Thostenson, J; Jooss, K; Piascik, J; Frechette, A; Hotz, N; Stoner, BR; Hallowell, J
Published in: Gates open research
January 2019

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.

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Published In

Gates open research

DOI

EISSN

2572-4754

ISSN

2572-4754

Publication Date

January 2019

Volume

3

Start / End Page

1176

Related Subject Headings

  • 42 Health sciences
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
 

Citation

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MLA
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Myers, T., Schoebitz, L., Woolley, S., Sanchez Ferragut, J., Thostenson, J., Jooss, K., … Hallowell, J. (2019). Towards an off-grid fecal sludge treatment unit: demonstrating energy positive thermal treatment. Gates Open Research, 3, 1176. https://doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.12929.1
Myers, Taylor, Lars Schoebitz, Stuart Woolley, Jaime Sanchez Ferragut, Jimmy Thostenson, Kathy Jooss, Jeffery Piascik, et al. “Towards an off-grid fecal sludge treatment unit: demonstrating energy positive thermal treatment.Gates Open Research 3 (January 2019): 1176. https://doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.12929.1.
Myers T, Schoebitz L, Woolley S, Sanchez Ferragut J, Thostenson J, Jooss K, et al. Towards an off-grid fecal sludge treatment unit: demonstrating energy positive thermal treatment. Gates open research. 2019 Jan;3:1176.
Myers, Taylor, et al. “Towards an off-grid fecal sludge treatment unit: demonstrating energy positive thermal treatment.Gates Open Research, vol. 3, Jan. 2019, p. 1176. Epmc, doi:10.12688/gatesopenres.12929.1.
Myers T, Schoebitz L, Woolley S, Sanchez Ferragut J, Thostenson J, Jooss K, Piascik J, Frechette A, Hotz N, Stoner BR, Hallowell J. Towards an off-grid fecal sludge treatment unit: demonstrating energy positive thermal treatment. Gates open research. 2019 Jan;3:1176.

Published In

Gates open research

DOI

EISSN

2572-4754

ISSN

2572-4754

Publication Date

January 2019

Volume

3

Start / End Page

1176

Related Subject Headings

  • 42 Health sciences
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences