Sintex's biogas digester ingests crap, emits energy

Sintex Industries' aptly-dubbed biogas digester is most certainly not the first of its kind, but it is somewhat commendable that its maker is making no bones about this thing's purpose. Destined to "solve India's energy and sanitation problems in one stroke," this concoction can convert "human [waste], cow dung, or kitchen garbage into fuel that can be used for cooking or generating electricity." Reportedly, a one-cubic-meter digester would sell for around $425, but could pay for itself in energy savings in under 24 months. Excrement to energy -- now there's a concept.

[ScooterDe @ Feb 29th 2008 6:32AM]

so, a crapgadget you finally like?

[E71 @ Feb 29th 2008 6:42AM]

For electricity fine, but... for cooking? Ew.

[E71 @ Feb 29th 2008 6:44AM]

... yes I know it's not for actual poop burger flipping but for powering up whatever device is going to be cooking. *Awaits low rank* :p

[murray @ Feb 29th 2008 2:32PM]

@E71: actually, your initial reaction may be valid. If you read the article, it does imply using the gas for cooking directly. Ew.

[TK @ Feb 29th 2008 7:04AM]

I read "Sintex's biogas disaster."

[Bernhard @ Feb 29th 2008 7:34AM]

The search for alternate energy sources can lead to the most interesting results and who knows, this might power our mobile devices and other gadgets in the future. Damn it, this reminds me of Thunderpants...

[Nathan @ Feb 29th 2008 12:23PM]

I dunno, this seems kind of like a sh*tty idea...

*snicker*

[dajimmers @ Feb 29th 2008 7:35AM]

I really hope this thing is structurally secure. It's basically a ready-made poopbomb, just waiting for some kid to come by and ignite the methane.

[PhatPhil @ Feb 29th 2008 7:35AM]

This is a sh*t idea!

[webon @ Feb 29th 2008 7:54AM]

Is this Mr.Fusion, from back to the future part 2?

[Otaku.Anon @ Feb 29th 2008 8:03AM]

beat me to the reference, damn you. lol

[Otaku.Anon @ Feb 29th 2008 8:02AM]

If they were to make a miniature version of this and add it to a flying car, we can probably go to the future with it.

[SP @ Feb 29th 2008 8:46AM]

only if you can find a Delorean that can still hit 88 mph

[Nathan @ Feb 29th 2008 12:24PM]

Yeah! And with one of these in the trunk, no more stopping on road trips! Think of the TIME savings!

[John @ Feb 29th 2008 1:59PM]

Think of the time savings?! Think about the ring around your butt!

[cylonite @ Feb 29th 2008 8:08AM]

lol. this idea and its implementation has been around atleast for 5 years. Sintex just made it into this market, I guess. Biogas is similar to LPG and the by-products of the conversion is very rich natural fertilizer. This works best in a rural area, though.

[cylonite @ Feb 29th 2008 8:11AM]

Also there are government initiatives that further subsidize the cost of setting up a Biogas unit in one's house.

[Ken @ Feb 29th 2008 8:12AM]

GE has been doing this for a while on a loarge scale to power hundreds of homes. Watch the video here.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=P-bgucVc3co

[MacroEQ @ Feb 29th 2008 8:18AM]

Great idea. Combine that with solar panels and led light bulbs and it will make the world of difference to some people.

[Traceur @ Feb 29th 2008 8:18AM]

They already have these large scale in india. It's basically a large underground room, where it just converts to methane. Smells fucking terrible when you drive by one.

[Igibo @ Feb 29th 2008 8:28AM]

Widescale production of Jenkem? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkem) The US government will never allow it!

Igi

[Ghen @ Feb 29th 2008 8:40AM]

your website is neither wanted nor accepted. Please take your spam elsewhere.

[Ghen @ Feb 29th 2008 8:41AM]

I'm really not sure why this device is above-ground.

[FRZ @ Feb 29th 2008 8:44AM]

Are they gonna make it into a toilet/poop recycler. You know where you wake up in the morning go take a dump first and then go to your stove and make that bacon egg and cheese for breakfast.

[Dave @ Feb 29th 2008 8:46AM]

"Hi, and welcome to another episode of 'Cooking with Cow Dung'..."

[hypereric @ Feb 29th 2008 9:06AM]

Ummm, actually this idea has been around since 1874 (at least). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Fulton_Mansion The indoor gas lighting (and possibly heating) was powered by methane, and though the wikipedia article doesn't mention this, I'm sure you can find numerous photo shoots from tourists that will have the domed/capped sewer tank in the SW area about 100 feet behind the house.

Disclaimer: HyperEric lived in Fulton, and while the above is factual, he cannot be held liable for lighting your own farts.

[GTMac @ Feb 29th 2008 9:20AM]

From the pic it looks like it belongs on the Lars farm.

My first job was programming binary crap vaporators very similar to binary load lifters in most respects.

[Jonathon @ Feb 29th 2008 9:54AM]

So now instead of people saying your full of ____, they can just say that your full of energy.

[Sporkinum @ Feb 29th 2008 10:03AM]

I wonder how many courics of crap it takes to run one of those?

[john_v_phipps @ Feb 29th 2008 10:55AM]

Kind of reminds me of my responsibilities at the cube farm....

Ingest crap and put out my energy to make something useable out of it.

[Fall-Apart @ Feb 29th 2008 12:25PM]

Is this more or less efficient than thermal depolymerization?

[BigD145 @ Feb 29th 2008 12:29PM]

It fails in the human waste department. There's a reason most of the world has laws against using human waste. That reason is: disease and parasite vector.

[Allen @ Feb 29th 2008 12:49PM]

I could really use this at my parents place.... they are on a septic tank, and if you think Indians crap a lot, Americans would pay for this thing in a year flat.

[Stephen Lang @ Feb 29th 2008 1:14PM]

When life hands you poop, make lemonade, err, energy.

[murray @ Feb 29th 2008 2:34PM]

From the article: "Government officials plan to end open defecation by 2012 (hundreds of millions of Indians use railroad tracks or other outdoor locales instead of toilets)."

I'd hate to be a railroad worker in India.

[grjohnston @ Mar 1st 2008 3:58AM]

Well, I don't know how many people just walk up to train tracks and dump on them. Check out this article, it might provide a better explanation of where all the track-crap comes from.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2857281320080228?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

[murray @ Mar 1st 2008 8:07PM]

Holy cow, that's nuts. I bet that woman's new nickname is Lucy.

[grjohnston @ Mar 1st 2008 4:01AM]

Really? $400, and it would take 24 months to pay off? Clearly, it's not incredibly efficient. Or at least, not enough to compete with say, solar power, where a single house can start to net-produce energy, instead of only producing about $20/month's worth of power.

[jason @ Mar 1st 2008 8:36AM]

bio-dome