Poop powered bus

[dragon]

Well not really it's biomethane from anaerobic digestion.

America has the Tesla electric car, Britain has... a poop bus. Bristol Airport now has a bus that will shuttle people to Bath city centre, powered solely by human and food waste.

To be specific, it's the biomethane gas produced by the anaerobic digestion treatment of said waste that the bus runs on. Anaerobic digestion sees oxygen starved bacteria breaking down biodegradable materials, with methane-rich gas a by product of the process.

The 40 seater can travel 186 miles on a single tank, which is the equivalent of five people's annual waste. The gas is stored in dome-like tanks on the bus's roof, with the vehicle emitting 30 per cent less carbon dioxide compared to a conventional diesel engine.

"Gas-powered vehicles have an important role to play in improving air quality in UK cities but the Bio-Bus goes further than that and is actually powered by people living in the local area, including quite possibly those on the bus itself," said Mohammed Saddiq, general manager at GENeco, the Wessex Water subsidiary whose Avonmouth sewage works provides the biomethane gas that powers the bus.

link

[madd0ct0r]

it's a useful technology, but there physically isn't enough poop in the country.

one option I was looking at is using intermittent renewables (like wind) to generate electricity to make hydrogen, and feeding the hydrogen into the bioreactors. Biogas is only 60% methane and 40% CO2, but the same bacteria complex can also react the hydrogen and carbon-dioxide together to make more methane (net energy loss which lets them live)

Basically, you get more bang for your bucket. But still not enough for more then marginal replacement.

[Raw Shark]

The 40 seater can travel 186 miles on a single tank, which is the equivalent of five people's annual waste. The gas is stored in dome-like tanks on the bus's roof, with the vehicle emitting 30 per cent less carbon dioxide compared to a conventional diesel engine.

This is one low bridge incident away from becoming a literal shit show.

[andrewgpaul]

Not literal, unless you're unique and shit methane.

[Raw Shark]

I was thinking of the smell; if it was actually full of poop it'd be more of a shit storm...