UK unveils a “poo-powered” VW Beetle car
By Sharon J. Tibenda – 9th-15th Aug 2010
Poo powered VW
The way we look at and think of human waste a.k.a “poo” may never be the same again. A cool “poo-powered” vehicle, a convertible VW Beetle, has finally taken to the streets of Bristol in the United Kingdom. The little “Dung Beetle”, as it has already been referred by sections of the British media, is the brainchild of Engineers from Wessex Water who want to encourage sustainable motoring. It runs on processed methane gas generated as part of the treatment process of raw sewage.
The Wessex Water Engineers estimate that human waste or “poo” from 70 average homes could generate enough methane gas to run the “Dung Beetle” for 10,000 miles; approximately 16,100 kilometres in Uganda.
And those of you who frequently go past the National Water and Sewage Corporation sewage treatment plant in Wankoko-Bugolobi with your noses covered in handkerchiefs have nothing to worry about. Despite being powered by fuel created from sewage, the “Dung Beetle” does not discharge any unpleasant smell from its exhaust whatsoever. “It performs like a normal car – you wouldn’t know it was powered by biogas”; a company spokesman said.
For biogas to be used as vehicle fuel without affecting the vehicle’s performance or reliability, the gas needs to be treated to remove its carbon dioxide content. GENeco, part of Wessex Water, imported specialist “cleaning” equipment to treat the raw methane generated at the sewage treatment works in Avonmouth.
The company’s spokesman added that, “…our site has been producing biogas for many years which we use to generate electricity to power the site and export to the National Grid. With the surplus gas we had available, we wanted to put it to good use in a sustainable and efficient way. We decided to power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK”.
