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Bio-Bug: Britain’s first poo-powered Beetle can run 10,000 miles a year

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This is what we call scoop on poop. British engineers have converted Beetle car that runs on methane gas, a by-product of treating human waste. What makes this feat extraordinary despite the fact that there isn’t anything new about this technology is that the car dubbed as ‘Bio-bug’ ran without its performance being reduced in any manner.

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The prototype developed by a sustainable energy firm GENeco, is a conventional 2 litre VW Beetle convertible modified to run both on conventional and compressed methane gas. The Bio Bug runs on methane gas generated during sewage waste treatment process The gas generated through anaerobic digestion has been upgraded by removing carbon dioxide from it in order to improve performance during usage. Interestingly waste flushed down in just 70 homes is enough to power the bio bug for a year, based on 10,000 miles a year.
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The Bio-Bug has a top speed of 114 mph and can automatically switch between petrol and methane gas when either of them get exhausted. Around 18 million cubic metres of biogas is produced from human waste every year at Wessex Water’s sewage treatment works in Avonmouth, Bristol. The poo powered car runs 5.3 miles per cubic metre of biogas, which means a single sewage work could power 95,400,000 miles per year saving 19,000 tonnes of CO2.

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Via: DailyMail/BBC

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