How about this then? Seems to tie it all together - poop of various ilk and the utilization thereof, along with hydrogen, Japan, and all the fish (but not Detroit):
http://www.japanfs.org/db/database.cgi?cmd=dp&num=455&UserNum=&Pass=&A dminPass=&dp=data_e.html Japan for Sustainability New Development in Sendai to Create Hydrogen from Sewage Sludge Date: 20030921 Sendai City and Tohoku University in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, jointly started to develop a system to produce hydrogen from sewage sludge and the energy from sunlight in the autumn of 2003. The system will extract hydrogen using solar radiation as a catalyst on hydrogen sulfide generated from the sludge. Residual sulfur will be combined with heavy metals in industrial waste and recycled. The joint study aims at developing new environmental technologies to create hydrogen, a clean energy fuel. Up to the present, Sendai has been dehydrating and incinerating sewage sludge. In contrast, the new system, if successful, is expected to considerably reduce the amount and cost of sludge disposal. The development is one of several projects under the Sendai International Intellectual Industry Special Zone Program, designed to create new industries by utilizing intellectual property in universities. Professor Kazuyuki Toji of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Tohoku University is in charge of the project. The city is making a sewage facility available and allocating 5 million yen (about U.S.$41,700) for the experiment. + + + But indeed, it doesn't say what their wives think. :-) Now, as for utilizing all that intellectual property in universities, maybe stewing it up with some hydrochloric in a pressure cooker... Tom Reed's BEF stove is pretty good, except for the batteries. Well, it's still pretty good, and pretty useful in poor countries even with the batteries, but it could go further if it didn't need them. I spent some time with the good folks on the Stoves list at CREST (oft frequented by Tom) trying to find a battery-free solution - for instance, how would you go about getting the heat of the stove to drive an air-supply fan? Didn't get anywhere with it though. Best offer was a clockwork fan. Second-best was a sort of party-pooper cushion or whatever it's called, filled with air, that the cook sat on while cooking, thus providing a steady stream of air for the stove until the cushion deflated. I did get this far though, and some aspects of this design have been taken up elsewhere: http://journeytoforever.org/teststove.html Cookstove for schools: Journey to Forever It works very well, for what it is, but I wouldn't say it's an efficient all-purpose cooking stove. The wood needs preparing and correct stacking, it's not very controllable once it's going, and it's a waste unless you do the whole burn (half an hour). Not just switch on and go, stop and switch off. Tom once said about 25% of the science of these IDD gasifier stoves is known, and IMO there's a long way to go before they're widely applied. We're working on other answers, different approaches, quite promising. More on stoves here: http://journeytoforever.org/at_woodfire.html Wood fires that fit - Appropriate technology: Journey to Forever Biomass Energy Foundation's Home Page: http://www.woodgas.com/ Anyway, Robert, please don't be deterred by your better half's rolling eyes nor by sci.energy.hydrogen's goldfishism. Don't forget, they laughed at Isaac Newton (or was it Alfred Neuman?). Fine critters, goldfish. Best Keith >Appal Energy wrote: > >But you probably already knew about hot pans of bacon grease > > > thrown into a sink of dishwater. > > Uh, no. . . I don't eat anything that once had brown eyes and a >mom! (It's been well over thirty years now.) > > > I should put you in touch with Dr. Bob Stonerock (yup! that's his name > > > > alright). His wife nailed him with a quart of human poop conducting > > methane > > experiments. > > Yuck! That's disgusting! > > My boys just laughed when I told them I was "cooking cow poop"! > > > Maybe your wife and his could tell stories while the two of you > > colluded out > > in the garage? > > > > My loving wife has a tendency to remember my mistakes in painful >detail. She's tolerated my recent attempt at a supercharger >installation without laughing outright, but she's come close on a couple >of occasions. This afternoon, she didn't even ask about the smell--she >just rolled her eyes and shook her head! She would enjoy swapping >stories with another longsuffering spouse, I think. > > At least the gasifying cookstove works well. (She was a bit miffed >that I'd spent $50 on that!) I burned a handful of small waste wood >chips and had the mixture in the pressure cooker boiling within 6 >minutes! People in developing nations could really benefit from stoves >like this one. > > > Keep at it sport. Your understanding of things "social" are frequently > > a > > comfort. > > Thanks! I've just been accused of being a "democrat" over at >sci.energy.hydrogen because I don't approve of Mr. Bush's "hydrogen >economy" and the war in Iraq. Sometimes I suspect most of my fellow >citizens think as actively as the average gold fish. . . > > >robert luis rabello >"The Edge of Justice" >Adventure for Your Mind >http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/9782 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. 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