Microwave driven plasma gasifier-solid oxide fuel cell system for human waste processing

Conference paper (2017)

Authors

P.V. Aravind Energy Technology - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
G.S.J. Sturm Intensified Reaction and Separation Systems - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
J.C. Diehl Design for Sustainability - IDE
G. Stefanidis Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
W. de Jong Large Scale Energy Storage - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Research Group
Energy Technology (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
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Published Date

2017

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Process and Energy

Research Group

Energy Technology

Abstract

A community based sanitation system that processes human waste at an omnigasification plant is presented. The concept aims to destroy pathogens and generate energy from waste. The waste is dried, converted to syngas in a microwave assisted plasma gasifier and the gas produced is fed into a solid oxide fuel cell to produce electric power. In addition, a front-end for the process has also been developed with the design of a water diverting toilet and a community sanitation centre as well as the recognition of women empowerment, branding and sustainable business modeling. Plasma gasification has been demonstrated to be feasible at the small scale required for the application and the concept of energy recovery has been proven by integrating a gasifier, a gas cleaning unit, and SOFC test station. With thermodynamic calculations, it is shown that such a plant can be energy self-sufficient.