Cargando…

An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces

Poor sanitation is one of the major hindrances to the global sustainable development goals. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to develop affordable, next-generation sanitary systems that can ensure safe treatment and wide accessibility without compromi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Onabanjo, Tosin, Kolios, Athanasios J., Patchigolla, Kumar, Wagland, Stuart T., Fidalgo, Beatriz, Jurado, Nelia, Hanak, Dawid P., Manovic, Vasilije, Parker, Alison, McAdam, Ewan, Williams, Leon, Tyrrel, Sean, Cartmell, Elise
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Butterworths Scientific Publications 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4998016/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27857449
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2016.07.077
_version_ 1782449871595241472
author Onabanjo, Tosin
Kolios, Athanasios J.
Patchigolla, Kumar
Wagland, Stuart T.
Fidalgo, Beatriz
Jurado, Nelia
Hanak, Dawid P.
Manovic, Vasilije
Parker, Alison
McAdam, Ewan
Williams, Leon
Tyrrel, Sean
Cartmell, Elise
author_facet Onabanjo, Tosin
Kolios, Athanasios J.
Patchigolla, Kumar
Wagland, Stuart T.
Fidalgo, Beatriz
Jurado, Nelia
Hanak, Dawid P.
Manovic, Vasilije
Parker, Alison
McAdam, Ewan
Williams, Leon
Tyrrel, Sean
Cartmell, Elise
author_sort Onabanjo, Tosin
collection PubMed
description Poor sanitation is one of the major hindrances to the global sustainable development goals. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to develop affordable, next-generation sanitary systems that can ensure safe treatment and wide accessibility without compromise on sustainable use of natural resources and the environment. Energy recovery from human excreta is likely to be a cornerstone of future sustainable sanitary systems. Faeces combustion was investigated using a bench-scale downdraft combustor test rig, alongside with wood biomass and simulant faeces. Parameters such as air flow rate, fuel pellet size, bed height, and fuel ignition mode were varied to establish the combustion operating range of the test rig and the optimum conditions for converting the faecal biomass to energy. The experimental results show that the dry human faeces had a higher energy content (∼25 MJ/kg) than wood biomass. At equivalence ratio between 0.86 and 1.12, the combustion temperature and fuel burn rate ranged from 431 to 558 °C and 1.53 to 2.30 g/min respectively. Preliminary results for the simulant faeces show that a minimum combustion bed temperature of 600 ± 10 °C can handle faeces up to 60 wt.% moisture at optimum air-to-fuel ratio. Further investigation is required to establish the appropriate trade-off limits for drying and energy recovery, considering different stool types, moisture content and drying characteristics. This is important for the design and further development of a self-sustained energy conversion and recovery systems for the NMT and similar sanitary solutions.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4998016
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Butterworths Scientific Publications
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-49980162016-11-15 An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces Onabanjo, Tosin Kolios, Athanasios J. Patchigolla, Kumar Wagland, Stuart T. Fidalgo, Beatriz Jurado, Nelia Hanak, Dawid P. Manovic, Vasilije Parker, Alison McAdam, Ewan Williams, Leon Tyrrel, Sean Cartmell, Elise Fuel (Lond) Full Length Article Poor sanitation is one of the major hindrances to the global sustainable development goals. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to develop affordable, next-generation sanitary systems that can ensure safe treatment and wide accessibility without compromise on sustainable use of natural resources and the environment. Energy recovery from human excreta is likely to be a cornerstone of future sustainable sanitary systems. Faeces combustion was investigated using a bench-scale downdraft combustor test rig, alongside with wood biomass and simulant faeces. Parameters such as air flow rate, fuel pellet size, bed height, and fuel ignition mode were varied to establish the combustion operating range of the test rig and the optimum conditions for converting the faecal biomass to energy. The experimental results show that the dry human faeces had a higher energy content (∼25 MJ/kg) than wood biomass. At equivalence ratio between 0.86 and 1.12, the combustion temperature and fuel burn rate ranged from 431 to 558 °C and 1.53 to 2.30 g/min respectively. Preliminary results for the simulant faeces show that a minimum combustion bed temperature of 600 ± 10 °C can handle faeces up to 60 wt.% moisture at optimum air-to-fuel ratio. Further investigation is required to establish the appropriate trade-off limits for drying and energy recovery, considering different stool types, moisture content and drying characteristics. This is important for the design and further development of a self-sustained energy conversion and recovery systems for the NMT and similar sanitary solutions. Butterworths Scientific Publications 2016-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4998016/ /pubmed/27857449 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2016.07.077 Text en © 2016 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Full Length Article
Onabanjo, Tosin
Kolios, Athanasios J.
Patchigolla, Kumar
Wagland, Stuart T.
Fidalgo, Beatriz
Jurado, Nelia
Hanak, Dawid P.
Manovic, Vasilije
Parker, Alison
McAdam, Ewan
Williams, Leon
Tyrrel, Sean
Cartmell, Elise
An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces
title An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces
title_full An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces
title_fullStr An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces
title_full_unstemmed An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces
title_short An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces
title_sort experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces
topic Full Length Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4998016/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27857449
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2016.07.077
work_keys_str_mv AT onabanjotosin anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT koliosathanasiosj anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT patchigollakumar anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT waglandstuartt anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT fidalgobeatriz anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT juradonelia anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT hanakdawidp anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT manovicvasilije anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT parkeralison anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT mcadamewan anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT williamsleon anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT tyrrelsean anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT cartmellelise anexperimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT onabanjotosin experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT koliosathanasiosj experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT patchigollakumar experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT waglandstuartt experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT fidalgobeatriz experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT juradonelia experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT hanakdawidp experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT manovicvasilije experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT parkeralison experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT mcadamewan experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT williamsleon experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT tyrrelsean experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces
AT cartmellelise experimentalinvestigationofthecombustionperformanceofhumanfaeces