Biogas car poo poos the idea that sewage is all waste

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Car Rental News - 09/08/2010

 

A recycling company has launched the first car in the UK to run on sewage.

A recycling firm based in Bristol has launched the first car in the UK to be fuelled on biogas produced from processing household sewage. Bristol-based recycling company GENeco modified the Volkswagen Beetle to run on methane produced from recycling sewage.

Unlike many popular ideas about the future of green automobiles, the Bio-bug, as the car is called, has a couple of very important strong points. For one thing, it is impossible to tell from simply driving the car that it is not running on petrol. The other remarkable aspect of the car is that it requires no new technology.

The Bio-bug runs on compressed gas. Drivers in many countries across Asia, such as India, China and Thailand, have for many years been driving around in vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG). The use of gas-powered vehicles is also expanding across commercial transport fleets throughout the region. In the UK, many companies are already powering their fleets with CNG. Until now, however, the use of CNG in private vehicles has yet to become popular.

GENeco has for many years produced methane from processing of sewage. The gas is used to generate power, which powers the firm’s facilities. Excess power is exported to the National Grid. The company wanted to put its surplus gas to good use. It decided the Bio-bug would demonstrate a sustainable and practical use for the surplus gas.

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