With all of the urinal/sewer flow power sources which have been suggested of late, I'm surprised no one has come up with this already. From a certain prank I'm sure some of us played when we were younger, we know that it burns fairly well. The main problem is the odor, for which I advise the use of incense. Lot and lots of incense. And it can be burned, as well.-- nick_n_uit, May 25 2001 Methane Recovery http://www.state.ia...s/irerg/methane.htm"At least 19 Iowa municipal wastewater treatment plants capture methane for on-site use and electricity generation, collecting more than 1.2 million cubic feet of biogas per day, enough energy to heat more than 2,555 homes annually..." [egnor, May 25 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004] Dung as Fuel http://www.turtlehi...ia/india2/dung.htmlBaked, if that is the word, for centuries. [rmutt, May 25 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004] Humanure. http://www.jenkinsp...g.com/humanure.htmlOf which [dingleberry] spoke. [angel, May 25 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004] And furthermore http://www.halfbake...a/Urinal_20Turbines [mrthingy, May 25 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004] Baked... http://news.bbc.co....ci/tech/3895975.stm...then burned [angel, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Anaerobic sludge digestion extracts the methane. http://www.rpi.edu/...al/Sludge/guide.htmI guess you could still burn the dessicated residue later. [pertinax, Oct 30 2006] I must confess I have never played that particular "prank". I'm rather surprised, since I would expect the water content to be high. The water content is *certainly* high after the poo has been flushed down an ordinary toilet...
The use of methane from sewage to generate power is Baked. See link.-- egnor, May 25 2001 Does anyone else read 'biogas' as the plural of 'bioga'?-- angel, May 25 2001 But (and I mean "but") wouldn't the cost of the incense offset the gain in energy?-- globaltourniquet, May 25 2001 A fairly common thing in India, where you see acres of cow dung drying by the side of the road, and in huge, towering piles once dried. Dried, it is used for cooking and heating fuel.-- COmarybeth, Jun 06 2001 Joseph Jenkins (see link)-- angel, Jul 13 2001 I assumed that fizz jackball had something to do with this... Dingleberry Incense has long been a suggestion of mine to the clueless, as has Dingleberry Snapple - butt, I digest. What I used to do as a kid when fine cinema was on one of the huge amount of reasonably visisble Television Stations we had (4) - was to put powdered snuff in the commode and tell my Mother I had diarrhea. I'd also do the traditional heating of the thermometer over her boiling water (for morning tea of course) and shake the thermometer furiously to bring the temperature down to a reasonably believable level. My Pop was the Waste and Water treatment Supervisor in our area for 43 years, I'll actually have a chance to see him for a bit this weekend - and will show him this particular idea. He has seen the site on previous visits, and really enjoyed it. He may enjoy reading all about my misspent youth as well, come to think of it.-- thumbwax, Jul 13 2001 Actually, I think he's talking about the 'flaming bag of post-consumer canine food' on the porch, ring bell, run away, laugh while someone stomps out fire.-- StarChaser, Jul 14 2001 Mephista, this prank is doable. I have done it myself, on a not very impressive scale, but I also know a fart-light grandmaster, who could illuminate a room for about three seconds with his burning methane. His one piece of advice to me was.."You`ve got to be careful of suckbacks"-- March Hare, Jul 15 2001 Ewwwww!
This is baked.-- DesertFox, Oct 05 2004 I once witnessed a methane burning attempt. There seemed to be suckback. A blue flame went in and out. The burner then flopped onto his side, saying "Ow, Ow, Ow."-- ye_river_xiv, Oct 27 2006 There seem to be a number of "burn faeces" ideas in this category. Can someone explain why the redundant tag hasn't been trotted out n minus 1 times, where n is the number of "burn faeces" ideas?-- Texticle, Oct 29 2006 random, halfbakery