Building’s Treated Sewage Feeds Rooftop Energy Source

Water technology company OriginOil says its Electro Water Separation system has successfully treated a commercial building’s liquid sewage directly at the point of origin.

A prototype EWS Waste unit is processing liquid waste at an urban algae demonstration site near Paris, generating nitrate-rich water to feed algae grown on the building’s roof as an energy source.

Jean-Louis Kindler, CTO of OriginOil’s joint venture, Paris-based Ennesys, says the prototype shows that by using human waste as a feedstock for algae energy, commercial buildings can meet essential requirements such as energy generation and waste management in a closed-loop system.

In the Ennesys system, human sewage is first separated into solids and liquids. OriginOil’s EWS Waste process then sanitizes the fluids and converts the urea into nitrates. The water is then fed into the algae tubes on the roof of the building, where algae grows and is harvested daily for energy.

OriginOil completed the EWS Waste installation last month. Shortly after installation, the team reported successful results, and the demonstration unit is reportedly able to process about 250,000 liters per day, with more efficiency gains expected.

OriginOil and Ennesys’ algae harvesting system debuted last year in the grand opening of an urban algae showcase near Paris, Energy Manager Today reports.

Last month, Abengoa opened the world’s first plant to convert sewage to biofuels in Spain. The demonstration plant uses the company’s waste-to-biofuels (W2B) technology and has the capacity to treat 25,000 tons of municipal solid waste from which it will obtain up to 1.5 million liters of bioethanol for use as fuel.