Renewable Electrical Power from

CompostingMr. Henry Hovakimian, Director of Operations

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Presented at:

Solid Waste Association of North America’s

48th Annual Western Regional Symposium and Trade Show

April 8 to 11, 2019

Tenaya Lodge, Yosemite, California

TRACK 5B

Wednesday, April 10th

8:00 am – 9:00 am

WASTE CONVERSION

Research Network

Cal Poly Pomona Univ.

Dr. Prof. Kevin Anderson P.E.

University of New Mexico

Dr. Peter Vorobieff

Dr. Nima Fathi

SolarWall

Mr. John Hollick

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Outline

Intro. to SUT+CWH+TSC Power Plant Renewable Energy Technology

SUT = Solar Updraft Tower

CWH = Compost Waste Heat

TSC = Transpired Solar Collector

Project Benefits

Numerical Simulations

Prototype Experimental Test Set Up

Summary / Q&A

References

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Compo Energy Renewable Electrical Power

from Composting

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Intro. SUT+CWH+TSC Power Plant

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US PATENT #7956487 Canadian PATENT #2720544

CF. http://www.compoenergyinc.com/

ROOF OF CWHGREENHOUSE

TSC WALL

FRESHAIR

HEATED AIR FROM TSC

GROUND FLOOR

COMPOST PILE

CHIMNEY WALL

SHROUDED TURBINE

HEATED AIR FROM CWH

Intro. SUT+CWH+TSC Power Plant

Staged Shrouded Turbine R&D

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https://www.windpowerengineering.com/

Turbine placement options:

a) Single vertical axis b) multiple vertical axis c) multiple horizontal axis

Intro. SUT+CWH+TSC Power Plant

Leverages tipping fees, recycling and compost revenue generation

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Waste-to-Energy Power Plant with no

Incinerators

PROVIDING CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND SOLVING WASTE DISPOSAL ISSUES FOR THIS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS

A systematic method for converting heat energy released by compostable matter into electricity, using a compost updraft tower. This compost updraft tower is comprised of

1) a collector region that contains compostable matter

2) one or more towers that rise through the collector region

3) one or more turbines

The air within the collector region is heated through the composting process and that heated air flows through the collector region toward the open first end of one or more of the towers, and from there to the open second end of the tower

This heated air flowing through the system drives turbines that generate electricity

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Waste-to-Energy Power Plant with no

Incinerators

In one prototype the roof of the collector region is transparent to allow solar

radiation to also penetrate the collector region from the outside and heat air

within

The end product is compost from household waste for agricultural use

Therefore, the volume of waste transported to the landfills is drastically

reduced

This is a SMART ALTERNATIVE FOR OUR CURRENT LANDFILL WASTE OPERATIONS

One plant can generate at least 14.5 MW/+ (3.6 MW per section) of clean

renewable energy, enough for 13,500 +/- homes

A smaller size plant 500' x 500' can accept 1,000 tons of waste 24/7, and a full-size

power plant 1000' x 1000' can take 4,000+ tons of household and green waste 24/7

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Waste-to-Energy Power Plant with no

Incinerators

There are four ways to generate revenue in this project:

1) Tipping fees in Los Angeles area are approximately $60/ton; a 1000-ton plant will generate $60,000 per day, and a full-size plant 4,000 tons at $240,000 per day

2) Sale of the electricity generated for 13,500 +/- homes

3) Revenue from recyclable materials

4) Sale of compost for agricultural use

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Prototype Experimental Test Set-Up

1/5th Scale Prototype constructed at Cal Poly Pomona Univ.

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HOLES USED TO MIMIC TSC EFFECT

Numerical Simulations

Carried out at

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CHIMNEY

CENTERLINE

HEAT FLUX DUE TO COMPOST

SUT CHIMNEY

SUT ROOF WITH TSC

COMPOSTING

Numerical Simulations

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Summary

SUT+CWH+TSC solves problem

of waste management without

using incineration

Technology can be scaled up /

down according to the

customer needs

Q&A

Thank You

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References

1. "Case Study of a Solar Tower/Compost Waste-to-Energy Test Facility,"

by Anderson K.R., Shafahi, M., Shihadeh, S., Perez, P., Kampen, B.,

McNamara, C., Baghaei Lakeh, R., Sharbat, A., and Palomo, M., Journal of

Solid Waste Technology & Management, Vol. 42, 698-708, 2016.

2. “Thermal-fluids Analysis of a Hybrid Solar/Compost Waste Heat Updraft

Tower,” by Kevin R. Anderson, Maryam Shafahi, and Chris McNamara**, Cal

Poly Pomona, Journal of Clean Energy Technologies, Vol. 4 No. 3 May 2016.

3. Analysis of SUT using Compost Waste Heat and TSC,” Kevin R. Anderson and

Christopher McNamara, California State Polytechnic University at Pomona,

Mechanical Engineering, proceedings of ASES SOLAR 2017 Conference, Denver

CO, Oct. 9-12, 2017.

4. University of New Mexico SUT+TSC report 2/15/19

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