What if you can turn sewage into crude oil?

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Recently Pacific Northwest National Laboratory had an "Ask me anything" day about this on Reddit. I looked at it, but don't have an account there so am having trouble finding it again. However, they've been working on this tech For over 40 years so it's not like it's a secret. 

I'm curious what the green crowd here thinks about the repurposed sewage becoming a fossil fuel replacement? Still against it on principle? 

I'll keep looking for the AMA with all the Q&A with the Researchers. If I can find it I'll post it here. 

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Ah, Found it!

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

I think you've hit a gusher!

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Just now, Gerry Maddoux said:

I think you've hit a gusher!

Clearly it needs to be hosted in Washington DC for maximum effect!  😏🤓

[specinho + 467]

This might be an excellent idea.......

Was assigned to secure water security amidst unusually frequent drought and reduce costs of electricity in one of my assignments. I was introduced to onsite waste water treatment management before they release the treated water into the sea........

To my dismay........ out of all the basic tests they have done, they did not test fecal coliform, the most commonly found bacteria in defecate, in treated waste water before it was released. Was informed the fishery yield has reduced over years in the area, water pollution was recorded but never know why, skin problems of residents nearby etc........... People who watched Nemo, an Disney anim, (where waste water from a dental clinic was released directly into the sea; in some countries, waste water from hospitals too), might realize pollution of this kind could be happening world wide..............Shall your model is working, it could probably help to reduce water pollution and restore marine lives worldwide etc etc........

For example, the dried matter could be used as fuel to boil the filtered and treated water. What do we do with the steam?? Some countries, e.g. Singapore, proposed to have unboiled, treated sewage water as drinking water to reduce water dependency from the neighbouring country........... (might be in place already, not 100% sure)..........😓

News has it that government of the neighbouring country sent visiting troup, trying to copy what they are trying to do........ Darnn......... must have been skipping here and there on the standard operating procedure, the water supply to my friend's house was polluted.  He filed a complaint and no problem was detected. Of course, no fecal colliform was checked, just pH and ammonia or such....................

They could use distillation like this if they prefer........ Or just generate electricity from the steam if not too troublesome...............no??

[KeyboardWarrior + 527]

I love ideas like this. I'm particularly interested in the use of waste plastics as a replacement for coal coke. Not on the basis of cleaning up plastic, but on the basis of reducing input costs for pig iron:

http://www.iipinetwork.org/wp-content/Ietd/content/plastic-waste-injection.html

[Otis11 + 551]

On 11/3/2020 at 5:19 PM, Ward Smith said:

Ah, Found it!

Been a few years, but last I looked into it, it seemed brilliant. 

If you run the numbers its never going to fully (or even significantly) replace our fuel consumption, there simply isn't enough waste - same problem with most biofuels - but it can (or at least could at gas prices back then) make waste water treatment much more economic. Plus, never hurts to become that little bit more energy independent.

 

So, not going to threaten the O&G industry any time soon,  but great tech. Hope it gets implemented widely!

 

(And thanks for the link, look forward to catching up on updates over the past few years)

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 11/3/2020 at 5:03 PM, Ward Smith said:

Recently Pacific Northwest National Laboratory had an "Ask me anything" day about this on Reddit. I looked at it, but don't have an account there so am having trouble finding it again. However, they've been working on this tech For over 40 years so it's not like it's a secret. 

I'm curious what the green crowd here thinks about the repurposed sewage becoming a fossil fuel replacement? Still against it on principle? 

I'll keep looking for the AMA with all the Q&A with the Researchers. If I can find it I'll post it here. 

Dan, I am sure you know it can be turned into methane and the solids can be used for fertilizer. That seems like the logical choice to me. 

Biogas https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N-TLMeHsKYBCirxS0vbqMGHpU2SmyLuCc7bqp8eYXVM/edit

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 11/3/2020 at 5:23 PM, Ward Smith said:

Clearly it needs to be hosted in Washington DC for maximum effect!  😏🤓

That swamp would destroy the market price of natural gas. 🤦‍♂️😉