Sintex's biogas digester ingests crap, emits energy
By Darren Murph 
posted February 29th 2008 6:27AM
posted February 29th 2008 6:27AM
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.
so, a crapgadget you finally like?
For electricity fine, but... for cooking? Ew.
... 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
@E71: actually, your initial reaction may be valid. If you read the article, it does imply using the gas for cooking directly. Ew.
I read "Sintex's biogas disaster."
bio-dome
This is a sh*t idea!
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...
I dunno, this seems kind of like a sh*tty idea...
*snicker*
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.
Great idea. Combine that with solar panels and led light bulbs and it will make the world of difference to some people.
Is this Mr.Fusion, from back to the future part 2?
beat me to the reference, damn you. lol
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.
only if you can find a Delorean that can still hit 88 mph
Yeah! And with one of these in the trunk, no more stopping on road trips! Think of the TIME savings!
Think of the time savings?! Think about the ring around your butt!
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.
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
Also there are government initiatives that further subsidize the cost of setting up a Biogas unit in one's house.
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.
Widescale production of Jenkem? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkem) The US government will never allow it!
Igi
your website is neither wanted nor accepted. Please take your spam elsewhere.
I'm really not sure why this device is above-ground.
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.
"Hi, and welcome to another episode of 'Cooking with Cow Dung'..."
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.
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.
So now instead of people saying your full of ____, they can just say that your full of energy.
I wonder how many courics of crap it takes to run one of those?
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.
Is this more or less efficient than thermal depolymerization?
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.
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.
When life hands you poop, make lemonade, err, energy.
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.
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
Holy cow, that's nuts. I bet that woman's new nickname is Lucy.
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.