\u00a9 iStock\/GAPS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBirgitte Ahring, professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and leader of the study, stated: \u201cIt was shown to be extremely efficient, and that\u2019s very exciting. This can be applicable and something we could begin to explore in Washington state. Not wasting waste, but using its potential instead, has major advantages.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn the US currently, approximately half of the wastewater treatment plants use anaerobic digestions. However, the process in which microbes break down the waste is inefficient, as the leftover sludge generally ends up in landfills. Large amounts of electricity are also used to clean up municipal wastewater, with wastewater treatment facilities often the largest users of electricity in a small community.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSmall communities can particularly benefit from the technology, as many are committed to reducing their waste and climate impact.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIf they could make their own electricity, or for some of the large plants, make renewable biogas and add it to the natural gas grid, then they can reduce the use of fossil fuels. Here, we are beginning to move into the idea of the circular economy,\u201d said Ahring, who is also a faculty member in the Bioproducts, Sciences, and Engineering Laboratory at WSU Tri-cities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThis is not a very high-tech solution. It\u2019s actually a solution that can be useful even at small scale. The efficiency has to be high or else you cannot warrant adding the extra costs to the process.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nConverting the biogas for future uses \u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\nNow, the researchers are scaling up the work in their pilot facility located at WSU Tri-cities to further demonstrate the process. The team is studying how to efficiently convert biogas to more valuable renewable natural gas by a new bioprocess.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAlthough the biogas created can be used to produce electricity, producing renewable natural gas could allow rural communities to generate local transportation fuel for fuelling their municipal vehicles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have developed a new method to convert leftover sludge to biogas, lowering waste treatment costs and helping the environment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24204],"tags":[24134,3365],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
New system converts sewage to biogas<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n