One of London’s thermal power plants succeeded to deal with the challenges of modern ecology, which are harmful emissions, reducing energy consumption, and reducing the carbon footprint. They discovered a way to extract biogas from sewage system waste and convert it into electricity. Ravshan Esanovich Akhmedov, who is one of the key employees of the Samarkand city water utility, a teacher and public figure, spoke about how this unique thermal power plant functions.
The Way it Functions
A mini-power plant in the British capital’s wastewater treatment plant uses recycled gas, which gets released from sewage for generating electricity for its own needs. Such an innovative approach made it possible to almost halve the cost of purchasing electricity. Now the thermal power plant generates about 10 megawatts of electricity itself.
In order to generate energy, the station uses a 20-piston internal combustion engine for which biogas is the fuel (you can find the same principle in the cars when they use methane for internal combustion engines). Accordingly, the engine works in tandem with an electric generator.
The Way of Getting Gas
Raw materials from sewage are processed in special tanks. They get fermented at a temperature of 54 degrees Celsius. As a result, hydrogen sulfide is released, from which the necessary fraction, which is biogas, gets separated. It flows through special pipelines into storage and then into the engine.
After processing (the process of water removal), the residue, which is organic matter, silicon-containing substances, and excess moisture, is used as fertilizer in agriculture.
Positive Effect
There are several advantages of such an initiative, which are the following:
- the station helps reduce sewerage;
- smaller amount of greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere, which impacts the planet’s carbon footprint;
- the closed system is clean from an environmental point of view, as it produces virtually no waste, since everything is recycled;
- economic effect due to reduced costs for purchasing electricity.
It is worth mentioning that the project is quite expensive. Its cost is approximately 29 million euros, and the payback period is 15 years. Nevertheless, investors who have invested in a unique power plant have a positive attitude towards the project, since it is a long-term investment that is positive for the economy and the environment.
Other Places Where Sewage Waste Gets Disposed
One way or another, sewage recycling is used all over the world, somewhere to a greater extent, somewhere to a lesser extent. Very good results have been achieved in the sewage recycling system of New York in the USA. Here, all the water is separated from the wastewater and purified to such an extent that, after returning to the environment (the Hudson River basin), it does not have any negative impact on the environment. The dry residue is also used for the production of fertilizers.
About the Author
Ravshan Esanovich Akhmedov had a significant impact on the development of the water supply, water treatment, and sanitation system in Samarkand during his professional career. Thanks to all the efforts and decisions he made, the residents can enjoy a high level of comfort in the city.
In addition, Ravshan Akhmedov is an active public figure and teacher at the Samarkand State Institute of Architecture and Construction. He is a laureate of numerous national awards and prizes of the Republic of Uzbekistan. As a co-author of the textbook “Organization of the operation of water supply and sewerage systems and their usage,” he made a significant contribution to scientific work, widely used in technical educational institutions of the republic and successfully applied in practice.