Could Bloom Box Turn Wastewater Treatment Plants into Power Generation Stations? |
March 15, 2010 |
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Posted by Don Dunnington at March 15, 2010 08:18 PM |
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Bloom Energy Corp. generated lots of high-energy buzz for its fuel cell "energy servers" on "60 Minutes" last month (CBS TV February 24, 2010). Called the "Bloom Box," the company declares its fuel cells are a technology breakthrough, using low-cost silicon based ceramic plates, rather than platinum and other expensive materials needed in other fuel cells.
The company has Bloom Boxes generating power at major corporations such as eBay, FedEx, Google and Walmart. While most installations currently use natural gas to power the fuel cells, methane has also been employed.
You can see Lesley Stahl's Interview of Bloom Energy founder and CEO K.R. Sridhar here. A second video of Sridhar interviewed by Greentech Media can be seen on YouTube.
Sridhar is a visionary scientist and entrepreneur who sees his fuel cells eventually bringing affordable energy to some 2.5 billion people who are too poor or too remote to be served by today's energy grid. As I watched Sridhar explain the technology and describe his vision for Bloom Boxes, I was reminded of Seth's Godin's Linchpin.
Perhaps Sridhar will be the linchpin to make fuel cells that finally fulfill their promise. Perhaps he can make the economics work to move fuel cells beyond an interesting but expensive device for those with deep pockets (or government subsidies). Perhaps he can even bring affordable electric power to those beyond the grid. He's certainly got the vision, and he's got the sort of high-powered financing and support that tends to make things move beyond vision to reality.
Wastewater Treatment Plants Now Using Methane Fuel Cells
The idea of using methane to generate electricity has been around for some years. In 2001, the City of Portland, OR, installed a 200-kilowatt fuel cell in its wastewater treatment plant. The fuel cell runs on methane produced by the plant to generate some of the power needed to run the plant.
MSNBC did a story on "Poop Power" on July 19, 2004, which featured a $22 million facility in Renton, Washington, a Seattle suburb. It was reported at the time as being the largest project in the world to convert sewage methane to electricity using fuel cells. Getting the technology into production hasn't been easy. According to MSNBC, it took the King County facility six years to build its plant as a result of the first fuel cell vendor going bankrupt.
Bloom has $400 million in venture capital and the backing of John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers, the venture capital firm that has helped launch an impressive number of Silicon Valley startups. Bloom has been in business eight years, and the company says it's two years away from scaling up to full production capability. At that point, if Sridhar's vision holds true, Bloom Box energy servers will be a real power in the electric generation business.
Don Dunnington
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Comments
So what are the advantages and disadvatages of using a fuel cell, instead of using a gas turbine with a generator?
Simon
Posted by: simon at March 22, 2010 05:11 AM
This is the kind of information I like to read about. Giving power to the people instead of the in the hands of the corporate conglomerates.
It doesn't get any better than the idea of turning waste into a usable source of power. We need more companies with vision like the Bloom Energy Corp.
Posted by: WaterFilter at March 31, 2010 04:20 PM
Regarding the article "Could Bloom Box Turn Wastewater Treatment Plants into Power Generation Stations?", What is the answer to the question asked at the bottom of the article, "So what are the advantages and disadvatages of using a fuel cell, instead of using a gas turbine with a generator?"
Roger Chedester
Posted by: Roger Chedester at April 4, 2010 06:16 PM
Blue Water Technologies, Inc. of Hayden, Idaho is a waste water treatment innovation and technology company which represents and manufactures products providing primary treatment and sludge dewatering and tertiary treatment using granular media filtration and specialized filter systems for the removal of nitrates and phosphorus. Combining some of this technology with state of the art gasification equipment, Blue Water offers a reformation opportunity for distributive generation of electricity from biosolids and synthesis gas. Bloom Energy purports to have demonstrated the quintessential application of distributive power generation. We believe that there is promise for the use of Bloom Energy fuel cell technology in the reformation of biosolids as a fuel source for alternative energy generation if K.R.Sridhar's optimism regarding cost per kilowatt hour is real.
Posted by: Dennis Hession at May 3, 2010 06:30 PM
safengineers also provide sustainable water treatment,water processing technologies, conventional industrial water treatment systems,water purification & water auditing services. They also handled water treatment segment & waste water treatment segment.
Posted by: safengineers at October 19, 2010 08:25 AM
Is is more dangerous to use the fuel cell versus the gas turbine with a generator? My technical gut tells me yes.
Posted by: Sikaal EFT Vrenssen at October 27, 2010 03:28 AM
