Comments on: Getting More from Your Sludge http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/ read, share, suggest, and use cracking business ideas Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:59:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 By: charlie http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-619 charlie Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:47:38 +0000 http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-619 that's not such a shitty idea! good one. that’s not such a shitty idea!
good one.

]]> By: John http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-620 John Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:31:16 +0000 http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-620 Sounds like a good idea, is it viable? Sounds like a good idea, is it viable?

]]> By: Tim http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-622 Tim Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:41:45 +0000 http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-622 If it were geopolitically stable it could be a good idea. We actually had a project in planning a bit like like this 20 years ago. At the time, London's sludge was digested and the biogas used to generate electicity. This is still the dominant from of sludge treatment; it is increasing and technologies are being used to increase specific biogas yields. The sludge from the two large works downstream of London (serving about 5 million people) was taken by ships to a designated dump site in the North Sea where currents dispersed it. This was due to end in 1998 and we looked at back-loading digested sludge in oil tankers to stabilise the desert area around a highway that ran across the Sahara from the west coast. The alternative stabiliser was crude oil! The road was being inundated with sand repeatedly. Provisionally, aid funding had been agreed for the project. It could have been developed further by collecting from other N. European cites with access to N. Sea ports. There is also an excess of farm animal manure in Belgium and Netherlands compared with the area of farmland on which it can be spread. It was a great concept and ticked lots of boxes, however, there was a "but" coming: before we got to pilot testing, Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Kuwait had been backing the aid, the country with the road came out for Saddam, that was the end of the project. Is it time to look at it again? Or do we have to wait until the Middle East and North Africa are peaceful? If it were geopolitically stable it could be a good idea. We actually had a project in planning a bit like like this 20 years ago. At the time, London’s sludge was digested and the biogas used to generate electicity. This is still the dominant from of sludge treatment; it is increasing and technologies are being used to increase specific biogas yields.

The sludge from the two large works downstream of London (serving about 5 million people) was taken by ships to a designated dump site in the North Sea where currents dispersed it. This was due to end in 1998 and we looked at back-loading digested sludge in oil tankers to stabilise the desert area around a highway that ran across the Sahara from the west coast. The alternative stabiliser was crude oil! The road was being inundated with sand repeatedly. Provisionally, aid funding had been agreed for the project. It could have been developed further by collecting from other N. European cites with access to N. Sea ports. There is also an excess of farm animal manure in Belgium and Netherlands compared with the area of farmland on which it can be spread.

It was a great concept and ticked lots of boxes, however, there was a “but” coming: before we got to pilot testing, Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Kuwait had been backing the aid, the country with the road came out for Saddam, that was the end of the project. Is it time to look at it again? Or do we have to wait until the Middle East and North Africa are peaceful?

]]> By: Anthony http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-671 Anthony Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:29:48 +0000 http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-671 Do you not think they have their own sewage in the middle east? Do you not think they have their own sewage in the middle east?

]]> By: JC http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-705 JC Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:36:12 +0000 http://blog.ideavolcano.com/2007/12/10/recycling-and-energy/#comment-705 Transporting sludge in tankers, very possible. "Digesting" enough sludge to generate the amount of methane needed to propel the tanker... ouch. You'd need to install a lot of aerators and other hardware, adding build and especially maintenance cost, and reducing tanker capacity. You'd also need more maintenance people on the tanker, have more maintenance downtime, and have all sorts of safety problems from trying to run a chemical plant at sea. It would make much more sense to process the sludge on land and then ship it, if there was a use for it. Transporting sludge in tankers, very possible.

“Digesting” enough sludge to generate the amount of methane needed to propel the tanker… ouch. You’d need to install a lot of aerators and other hardware, adding build and especially maintenance cost, and reducing tanker capacity.

You’d also need more maintenance people on the tanker, have more maintenance downtime, and have all sorts of safety problems from trying to run a chemical plant at sea.

It would make much more sense to process the sludge on land and then ship it, if there was a use for it.

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