(PNNL/Disclosure) – EXAME.com (press release) (Subscription)

Vanessa Barbosa

access_time 12 nov 2016, 07h40 – Updated on 12 nov 2016, 07h41

São Paulo – have you Ever thought of filling the tank of the car with sewage? In brief, this will be possible. Scientists have discovered how to transform the residues that follow the toilet article of fuel.

The technology, called liquefaction, hydrothermal (HTL, its acronym in English), mimics the geological conditions that the Earth uses to create crude oil, using high temperature and pressure. The process can in minutes something that nature takes millions of years to do.

According to researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), associated with the U.S. Department of Energy, the resulting material is similar to oil pumped out of the ground, with a small amount of water and oxygen mixed.

This oil biocru, or biopetróleo, can then be refined to result in the ethanol, gasoline or diesel. In addition to producing fuel, the process could give local governments significant cost savings by eliminating virtually the need for treatment, transport and disposal of waste sewage.

"There is an abundance of carbon in the sludge of the municipal wastewater," said Corinne Drennan, responsible for research of energy technologies in the PNNL.

Potential

The stations wastewater treatment in the U.S. treat nearly 34 billion litres of sewage every day. This amount could produce the equivalent of approximately 30 million barrels of oil per year, according to research.

An independent assessment made by the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) thinks the technology is highly disruptive, for their potential to treat solids from wastewater.

The researchers of WE&RF noted that the process has high conversion efficiency of carbon, with almost 60% of the carbon available in the primary sludge becoming biopetróleo.

The technology was licensed to the company Genifuel Corporation, which now works with the company Metro Vancouver, in partnership with the authorities of the third largest city of Canada, British Columbia, to build a pilot plant, at an estimated cost of US$ 8 to US$ 9 million canadian dollars.

Check out the video of the process (in English):