Sustainable Operations: Three For One

A demonstration project at Orange County Sanitation District tests the viability of using a fuel cell to generate electricity, hydrogen fuel and heat.

Jun 16, 2014 | by Doug Day |

Sustainable Operations: Three For One — The $8 million tri-generation pilot research project is the first to use digester gas to produce electricity, hydrogen for auto fuel, and heat for anaerobic digesters. It can produce 250 kW of electricity and 100 kilograms of hydrogen per day (equivalent to about 250 gallons of gasoline).

Cogeneration is nothing new to the clean-water industry, but in southern California, the Orange County Sanitation District has taken it one step farther, hosting a trigeneration demonstration project: a facility that turns biogas it into hydrogen, electricity and heat.With the cooperation of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California Irvine, the $8 million research project at the 103 mgd Fountain Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant began in September 2010, testing the use of a fuel cell to tap the energy potential of biogas.The National Fuel Cell Research Center collaborated with technology developers Air Products and FuelCell Energy

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