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Bacteria Begin Saving Akron Money

December 17, 2007 | 3 Comments

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Akron, Ohio [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The City of Akron, Ohio has opened a facility designed to produce electricity from biogas. Generated by the decomposition of sludge from the City's wastewater treatment plant, biogas is now the fuel that powers a 335-kW engine-driven generator.

"We will save money by not having to purchase an equivalent amount of electricity, thus offsetting some of the $1.35 million we spend annually for electricity here."

--Donald Plusquellic, Mayor of Akron

Akron and KB Compost constructed the $7 million plant to be similar to the 200 or so operations developed by the Schmack in Asia and Europe. The city's sludge plant will be one of the first in the country to create electricity using high-solids anaerobic digestion.

The initial biogas operation is designed to handle 5,000 dry tons of solids annually, or about one-third of the 15,000 dry tons produced annually at the wastewater treatment plant. Akron's system has been developed by Schmack Biogas AG.

"We will save money by not having to purchase an equivalent amount of electricity, thus offsetting some of the $1.35 million we spend annually for electricity here," said Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic.

Bioenergy

3 Reader Comments

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1 of 3

tripp-bishop-28613

December 17, 2007

They've probably got the option to expand it. Could have been lack of funds or a little trepidation. If the system works well I'm sure that they'll expand it.

Comment
2 of 3

mortimer-shnerdlyfrump-47009

December 17, 2007

I wonder why they didn't build a system to process all 15,000 dry tons. They would have save $4 million a year.

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3 of 3

richard-mullen-73359

December 19, 2007

I think your right Tripp. Hopefully this hesitation on other states will turn to action after seeing desired results. I sure hope many states are watching this. Investing in this kind of energy source is good even in the middle term.

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