Salt Management in Portable Renewable Energy Microgeneration
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a renewable energy microgeneration system that can convert organic waste into sustainable energy onsite in a single, modular, and portable configuration with reduced footprint, increased throughput, and modular interconnectivity, allowing users to be less dependent on utility providers and reduce waste management costs.
Innovation Solution
A modular renewable energy microgeneration apparatus comprising multiple units for waste mixing, pasteurization, anaerobic digestion, gas storage, and odor management, with each unit being portable and configured for fluid communication, enabling efficient conversion of organic waste into energy, heat, and fertilizers, and integrated with a de-watering system for waste separation and salt removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional centralized waste treatment system is used, then waste treatment capacity is sufficient, but users become dependent on utility providers and waste transport pollution increases
Solution Approach 1:
The waste treatment system is divided into modular units (anaerobic digester, de-watering system, salt removal system, composting system) that can be deployed at distributed locations such as individual buildings or communities, eliminating the need for centralized waste collection and transport while maintaining effective waste treatment capacity
2Adaptability or versatility
If a portable modular renewable energy system is implemented, then energy independence and reduced waste transport pollution are achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into separate functional modules (anaerobic digestion unit, de-watering unit, salt removal unit, composting unit) that can be independently operated or combined, reducing integration complexity while maintaining versatility
Solution Approach 2:
Each modular unit is designed to perform multiple functions (e.g., the de-watering system handles both liquid-solid separation and salt concentration, the digestate serves as both fertilizer and compost material), reducing the total number of components needed while maintaining system versatility
3Productivity
If salt is not removed from liquid waste, then the system is simpler, but high salt concentrations inhibit anaerobic digestion and reduce energy production
Solution Approach 1:
The salt removal system extracts salt from the liquid waste stream using evaporation and crystallization processes, separating the salt concentrate from the treated water to prevent salt inhibition in the anaerobic digester while recovering usable water and fertilizer
Data Source
AI summary
A renewable energy microgeneration apparatus is disclosed that includes a mixing tank that mixes waste with a liquid, a buffer tank that receives and pre-warms the mixed waste, a pasteurization tank that pasteurizes on the pre-warmed mixed waste, a digestion tank that performs anaerobic digestion on the pasteurized waste, a de-watering device that separates liquid digestate and removes salt from the liquid, sensors that measure salinity and biogas quality, and a controller. The controller causes the transfer of digestate from the digestion tank to the pasteurization tank to the dewatering device, causes the de-watering device to separate the liquid and remove the salt from the liquid, monitors the salinity of the liquid and the quality of biogas using the sensors, and causes the mixing of the liquid with the waste and adjusts the feed rate of the waste to reduce the salinity of the waste and increase methane production.