SEWER GAS AS MOTIVE POWER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1263, 25 June 1914, Page 3

SEWER GAS AS MOTIVE POWER.

SUCCESSFFL EXPERIMENT.

The utilising of sewer gas for power purposes has passed the experimental stages. The Parramatta Council (Australia) has, on the advice and under the direction of Mr Walshaw, had an engine installed at the sewage pumping station. This engine is of 16 horse-power, and is driven by gas drawn directly from the septic tanks through 300 feet of pipes. No structural alterations have (been made to the engine ; it is just the same as an engine used for coal gas. It was installed on May 6th. It has been running continuously for a month operating a six inch centrifugal pump, pumping up to 45,000 gallons of sewage from the low level to the higher level of the septic tanks, against a head of about 35 feet. There could be no greater test of its efficiency. The sewage which the pump lifts generates the power which operates the pump. So perfect is the running of the machinery that the engine runs all night without attention. The installation of this engine is saving the Parramatta Council £io a week in wages for a third shift, and in fuel and other incidentals. Hitherto the work was done by means of two 12 h,p. engines driven by steam. The cost of the new installation was ,£l9B 16s 4d. In twenty weeks the engine driven by the sewer gas will have saved the whole cost.