Almost DeLorean! Hydrogen Fuel out of Sewage Sludge in Japan
The City of Fukuoka and Kyushu University are tackling a rare demonstration experiment toward refining hydrogen fuel from sewage sludge to feed fuel-cell vehicles. Toyota Motors has already marketed one of those "Ultimate Eco-Vehicles" to accelerate the promotion of hydrogen energy.
Right now, hydrogen is obtained through reforming LNG but if sewage sludge is put to use as a raw material for processing hydrogen, a fossil fuel-free, locally-produced-locally-consumed type of energy cycle with less CO2 discharge could be a reality.
30 years since "Back to the Future", our vehicles could at last run on sewage sludge like De Lorean in that film?
Sewage sludge is plentiful at Fukuoka's Water Treatment Center - 200 thousand tons daily. A demonstration experiment "Hydrogen Leader City Project" is now underway, starting in May last year, under the auspices of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The project budgets 1.3 billion yen to build a hydrogen production plant to eventually supply metropolitan vehicles.
When fully fermented, the sewage sludge collected at the center produces approximately 12,000 cubic meters of biogas that contains flammable methane, of which 80% feeds gas power generation facility and the remaining 2,400 cubic meters for producing hydrogen. The total volume of hydrogen produced here runs up to 3,700 cubic meters per day, enough to fill up the gas tanks of 65 FCVs. "Sewage sludge is a treasure trove", says Takahiro Tuno, head of Sewage Planning Division, Fukuoka.
Professor Masayoshi Tajima of Kyushu University's International Hydrogen Energy Research Center comments that an ideal hydrogen society is born out of a sewage treatment plant. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, of the 2.100 odd sewage treatment plants in Japan approximately 300 have fermentation plants producing annually 310 million cubic meters of biogas for power generation, some 8,500 cubic meters left yet to be utilized. This 8,500 cubic meters of biogas will, if utilized, fill up an FCV 2.6 million times.