A bus powered by food waste and human poop has hit the roads in the United Kingdom.
The 40-seater Bio-Bus runs on gas generated through the treatment of sewage and food waste.
Besides saving fuel, the environment friendly bus helps to improve the air quality as it produces lesser emissions than traditional diesel engines, says a Wessex Water release.
The bus can travel up to 300 kms on a full tank of gas generated at Bristol sewage treatment works, a plant run by GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water.
Besides offering fuel for the bus, the plant also produces enough biomethane from the waste to supply gas to the national gas network powering around 8,500
homes.
One passenger’s annual food and sewage waste provides fuel to travel a distance of 55 kms.
The annual waste generated from one bus load of passengers, would provide enough power to travel a distance of around 1,407 kms. The first passengers on the Bio-Bus were visitors to the UK, who travelled from Bristol Airport to the historic city of Bath.
In 2010, GENeco powered a car on biomethane produced during the sewage treatment process.
Photographs, courtesy: Wessex Water
