This ‘Bio-Bus’ Is Powered By Human Poop…

By: | December 6th, 2014

The latest initiative to recycle human waste and turn it into energy comes in the form of an eco-friendly ‘bio-bus’ in the UK. This bus is powered entirely by human and food waste.

This bio bus could significantly improve the urban air quality.

The bio-bus runs on biomethane gas, which is generated through anaerobic digestion, a process that converts human waste and food waste into a methane rich biogas.

Since it produces fewer emissions than traditional diesel engines, this bus could provide a sustainable way of fueling public transport while at the same time improving urban air quality.

This 40 seat transit vehicle can travel up to 186 miles (300 Kms) on a single tank of gas which is equivalent to the annual waste of five people. Bio-bus carries passengers from Bristol Airport to the historic city of Bath.

The gas is for the bus is being produced by energy firm GENeco at Bristol sewage treatment works.The travelers need not worry about an unpleasant smell affecting their journey, as the gas is upgraded by removing impurities before use to leave the fuel stink-free.

This bus clearly shows that human waste can be a valuable resource and also that food unsuitable for human consumption should not be simply thrown away at landfill sites.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

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