If there’s one thing that will never be in shortage as long as humans roam the earth, it’s waste materials. Now a plant in Orange County, California, is turning that human waste into energy for the plant as well as for hydrogen powered vehicles.
The Hyundai Tucson FCEV is highlighted as one of the vehicles that will benefit from this. The process sounds simple – extract water from sewage, then convert the biosolids with microbes that release that can be used to power the plant’s heating and electricity while producing the hydrogen for the vehicles. Science.
This will help local Hyundai dealers as a prototype for future development, but even Hyundai dealers across the country will benefit if this green, clean style of energy collection is successful. Despite the source, the energy itself is as clean as can be and the vehicles themselves do not fall victim to lingering odors.
According to Autoblog:
It might sound a bit complicated, but this process is working in prototype form at the Orange County Sanitation District’s Fountain Valley waste facility in California, and hydrogen car drivers in the area – including those of the upcoming Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell CUV – can even power their rides from the end product. UC Irvine’s National Fuel Cell Research Center’s Jack Brouwer developed the process and he says reusing waste to move cars, “smells like money.”
Read More: Autoblog