Author: Tuomas Hakala

Supply of clean water and efficient management of waste water are among the most vital urban environmental services. For communities, water related services are also often the biggest energy consumers – underlining the significance of water-energy nexus. It is therefore easy to view waste as a problem to be mitigated, something to be reduced to a tolerable level, and kept out of sight. Another mind-set is possible. Organic waste contains significant quantities of energy embedded in it. The facts that these streams of organic matter are distributed across our communities, trickle down in small streams and have low energy density, have made it difficult to capture that energy anywhere else but in locations with large populations and high population densities. A European project DEMOSOFC showcases a replicable concept by which power generation can be integrated into water services at superb efficiency in small and medium sized facilities, too, making good use of modular nature of fuel cells and fuel flexibility of SOFC technology. The video below presents the concept by an example from Collegno waste water treatment facility of SMAT in Turin region, Italy.

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