No. 110: Using a sewage plant as the base of resources recycling (November 7, 2011)

Subsidized by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Toyohashi University of Technology will start a substantiative experiment of a system that uses a sewage plant as the base of resources recycling for effective utilization of biomass and carbon dioxide with an investment of 600 million yen in 2014. In the experiment, the research team will produce biogas and fertilizer from sewage sludge and waste. The generated biogas will be used for power generation, and the generated carbon dioxide will be used as an agent to facilitate the photosynthesis of farm products and seaweeds.

The generated power will be used to run the equipment, the generated heat in power generation to dry sewage sludge, and the generated carbon dioxide to operate the cultivation facilities inside the plant. Facilitating the photosynthesis is expected to increase the yield by 30%. Biomass will be solidified and distributed to local farmers as fertilizer. In the experiment, the research team will study how much the system will be effective to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the economic potential of the system. The local gas company will provide the elementary technology for the production of biogas and fertilizer and the facilitation of the photosynthesis. Besides such nationwide companies as Sinfonia, local companies including TBRCorp. and Ishiguro Group will participate in the experiment. The preparation for the experiment will start in Toyokawa Water Purification Center late this year.