Kd
Kartik dhadwal
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PROJECT TIMELINE
Sewage waste is one of the untapped source of power generation. Some of the unique selling points of our products are as follows:
- This product uses the sewage sludge for electricity generation.
- Cost effective in terms of initial installation, regular maintenance.
- Easy deployment.
- Best out of waste principle i.e.promoting the use of sewage waste as a useful entity.
- No geographical constraints unlike wind and solar energy.
- No external power sources required to start the process unlike thermal power generation.
- Our product is based on the Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology. This technology can be defined as a bio-electrochemical system in which microorganisms function as catalysts to convert chemical energy (organic waste) into electrical energy. MFC can produce energy directly from biodegradable matter waste such as sugars, organic acids and biomass. The base inspiration of this concept of microbial fuel cells comes from the process of cellular respiration which is a collection of endothermic metabolic reactions that convert nutrients into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) which fuels cellular activity. In microbial fuel cell, the bacteria of sewage waste at anode reduce the organic matter and oxidise it. It is a form of redox reaction in which electrons are moved around. MFC consists of a cathode separated from anode by a cation specific membrane. The protons generated at anode due to microbial activities pass through the membrane to reach cathode and the electrons pass through the anode to an external circuit to generate a current.
- After working at the prototype stage we gathered the following results:
- The cell is able to generate a voltage of 0.3 volts in half an hour. The voltage increases gradually.
- It remains constant for another one and half hour.
- After two hours, there is a slight drop in the voltage to 0.2 volts.
- Design description
- Our product is a portable sewage cell device based on the microbial fuel cell technology which can be mounted underneath any sewage manhole cover in order to allow the sludge to directly interact with the device. The construction of the device is such that the outermost casing which is a cylindrical PVC casing consists of enough holes to allow the sludge to penetrate and come in contact with the perforated anode cylinder made up of graphite coated aluminium. Here the bacteria present in sludge decomposes the organic waste and the protons released in the process passes through the cylindrical semi permeable membrane cylinder made of asbestos material towards the cathode which is a hollow conductive cylinder made up of graphite coated aluminium. This semi permeable membrane acts as a cation exchange membrane between the anode and the cathode. All of the cell components are held together by the cell holder. The oxygen is provided through the slotted cylindrical vent like structure mounted on the manhole cover through a hollow cylindrical passage to the cathode. A rubber O ring stops the sewage from entering the cathode. The electrons produced during the Biochemical redox reaction at anode pass to an external circuit to generate current. Here a two pin connector is provided for the connection of external circuit to the anode and cathode terminals of the sewage battery. In order to ensure that the device reaches the sewage inside the sewage tank, the neck of the mounting flange is available in various standard lengths as per the depth of the manhole. In order to lift the sewage cell during installation and servicing, handles are provided which are connected to the mounting flange via the handle hinges.
- ELECTRONIC SYSTEM DESCRIPTION AND WORKING:
- Since a single sewage cell (similar to solar cells) would not be able to provide sufficient voltage required by its intended application on its own, many individual sewage cells (of about 3 to 6 depending on the voltage requirements and the dimensional constraints) are mounted on the same sewage site such as a Manhole Cover/Lid on a Sewage Manhole. Depending on the power requirements these cells are connected in series and parallel combinations before being fed to the Power Regulating Unit.
- The sewage battery voltage input is given to a Power Regulating Unit consisting of a boost converter section which maintains the voltage at 9 volts constantly.Since the voltage derived from microbial sewage battery will not always be 5 volts, it may slightly decrease with time, a boost converter section is really important to ensure a constant voltage supply which further charges a lithium-ion battery(not restricted to) to store the charge.
- The stored power is provided to the load through a power control section which regulates the amount of power to be delivered to the load as per the requirement.
- NOVELTY OF THE PRODUCT:
- A lot of research has been done on Microbial fuel cells but it has been restricted to laboratory setups.
- No market ready and compact product is available that can deployed directly into sewage manholes to generate usable power till date.
- The design of sewage cell introduced is unique and has been designed keeping in mind the portability and compactness of the product.
- As per the literature survey done by us so far, it has been observed that typically Microbial Fuel Cells consists of monolithic electrode made up of a single given material unlike our design where two different materials(Graphite and Aluminium) that combine the best properties of both required for microbial fuel cell applications as a product and not a research artefact
- SCOPE OF IMPROVEMENT:
- Material optimisation for electrodes needs more research time and funding.
- Various research on studying the effect of distance between electrodes, geometry etc has to be researched upon with more trials of making sewage cell prototypes.
- Cost optimisation of the sewage cell is also to be done in detail.
- Circuit optimisation for providing constant power output can be developed further..
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Project Timeline
To get an Insight of what challenges are faced by various sections of the society in tapping the energy for consumption we organized an online market survey and put forward some basic questions which were well designed and focused on comparisons and the kind of demand.
One of the major consideration was the material for anode and cathode.
Here is the reason we used aluminium coated with carbon
Cost of material
Manufacturing Cost
Conductivity
Resistance to corrosion
Ease of fabrication and deployment
Non toxic for bacterias
Strength
Maximum power output
Least electrical resistance
Sustainability of product.
We compared the carbon cloth and Aluminium as material for our electrodes.
Here is the reason we used aluminium coated with carbon
Cost of material
Manufacturing Cost
Conductivity
Resistance to corrosion
Ease of fabrication and deployment
Non toxic for bacterias
Strength
Maximum power output
Least electrical resistance
Sustainability of product.
We compared the carbon cloth and Aluminium as material for our electrodes.
Project Timeline
2020.06.18
To get an Insight of what challenges are faced by various sections of the society in tapping the energy for consumption we organized an online market survey and put forward some basic questions which were well designed and focused on comparisons and the kind of demand.
2020.05.12
One of the major consideration was the material for anode and cathode.
Here is the reason we used aluminium coated with carbon
Cost of material
Manufacturing Cost
Conductivity
Resistance to corrosion
Ease of fabrication and deployment
Non toxic for bacterias
Strength
Maximum power output
Least electrical resistance
Sustainability of product.
We compared the carbon cloth and Aluminium as material for our electrodes.
Here is the reason we used aluminium coated with carbon
Cost of material
Manufacturing Cost
Conductivity
Resistance to corrosion
Ease of fabrication and deployment
Non toxic for bacterias
Strength
Maximum power output
Least electrical resistance
Sustainability of product.
We compared the carbon cloth and Aluminium as material for our electrodes.
2020.04.25
The amount of voltage developed was very less, but its an appreciable amount at the prototype stage.
Thus to rise the amount of voltage generated we developed a power boost system . Description of which has already been provided. Here We would like to present the schematic diagram of the POWER REGULATION SYSTEM. The amount of voltage required can be varried by connecting the cells in series or parallel combinations
Thus to rise the amount of voltage generated we developed a power boost system . Description of which has already been provided. Here We would like to present the schematic diagram of the POWER REGULATION SYSTEM. The amount of voltage required can be varried by connecting the cells in series or parallel combinations
2020.04.25
We made a minimum viable prototype to check whether the concept is valid or not.
We successfully achieved the viability of the concept.
The results were recorded and the final pictures of the prototype with the amount of voltage generated within a limited time span was recorded.
The voltage recorded was less because of the small size of the prototype and the amount of sludge collected was very less.
We successfully achieved the viability of the concept.
The results were recorded and the final pictures of the prototype with the amount of voltage generated within a limited time span was recorded.
The voltage recorded was less because of the small size of the prototype and the amount of sludge collected was very less.
2020.04.22
The product has passed the sustainability criteria and various tests which were conducted using solidworks 2019. KIndly find the results as the attached JPG format file.
Market survey