Published on Nov 30, 2023
Urban Migration is one of the principle reasons for generation of large volumes of sewage water, which has led to the establishment of numerous Sewage treatment plants, based on the nature, and source of generation.
Wastewater treatment processes are energy intensive and account to nearly 20% of the total power consumption. Hence it becomes imperative to determine an alternative, cost effective and sustainable way for reducing the power consumption. Sewage Treatments plants can be considered to be a source of renewable energy, which can be harnessed to produce Hydropower.
Major Explorations have been made in Micro hydropower generation, giving an overall view for utilizing/converting Municipal sewage water into a primary source of energy, with comparison of the materials and the instruments that can be used for its installation, the advantages and disadvantages of its installation, however showcases a theoretical case study, with design of its components, along with cost-benefit ratio.
This project attempts to explore the opportunities of hydropower from treated sewage water, through performance evaluation by comparative studies of fresh water and different stages of treated water, and to estimate the maximum power that could be generated through prototype construction.
Keywords : Urban Migration, Sewage treatment plants, Hydraulic Parameters
1. To study the Hydraulic Parameters at the existing Sewage Treatment Plant considered for Study
2. To Design a Suitable Turbine and Civil Works for Pico Hydropower Generation
3. To construct the Prototype of the turbine and Validate its working
4. To Estimate the Hydropower that can be generated and its possible utilization
The Design adopted was aimed for generation of Pico hydropower, based on the hydropower theory and along with exploration of the different materials for installation of the principle components.
The prototype has been fabricated using Mild steel, for reaction turbine(kaplan) with 48mm dia impeller with four blades.
The complete experimental facility consists of a centrifugal pump set of 2HP, Sump or tank of dimensions 500*500*600 arranged for recirculating water system
Provision of a DC generator and for measurement of electrical energy an ammeter, energy meter, RPM indicators have been provided with mechanical pressure gauges
A comparitive study of the fresh water and Secondary treated water have been carried out, additionally, Primary treated water and Raw water have also been tested for.
The B M S Institute of Technology & Mgmt. STP has institutional water utilized as the source of wastewater, Designed as a Secondary Treatment Plant with disinfection using UV Radiation& capacity of 225 KLD. The Quality Analysis of the Samples used for running are as mentioned below :
From the experimental results of water quality tests and hydraulic turbine tests, it can be concluded that treated water out performs tap water in power generation under both constant head and constant speed conditions. This may be due to higher conducativity,density and viscosity. Further, it can also be infered that due presence of higher turbidity in treated sewage water, the efficiency decreases under constant speed. Treated sewage water is ceratinly a potential source for pico hydro power generation.
Hydropower is a proven and generally predictable source of renewable energy.
Further research on microhydro power generation using treated water will certainly capture larger variations of turbine performance parameters. Also, long term effect of use of treated water on turbine blades is another potential area of study.
