Ryo Amano, professor, mechanical engineering, and his doctoral students, Mohamed Maache and Cheikh Kada, were featured in a story in The American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ magazine about their research into optimizing animal waste for maximum energy output.
The story, which ran as the cover of the online magazine, elaborated on an academic paper Amano’s research team recently published in the ASME Journal of Energy Resources Technology.
The technology already is being tested at multiple sites across Milwaukee. Other lab members involved in the work were PhD students Kada Kada and Abdallah Benelmadjat.
The study looked at the thermochemical properties of horse manure – and suggests that biowaste can provide an efficient means of energy generation in oxygen-free environments.
Researchers tested mixing sewage sludge with cow or chicken manure to see if it could produce more energy when heated. Then they used experimental and mathematical modeling and found that the right mix matters: about 30% sludge with 70% cow manure more than doubled the energy output.
The ASME is the second-largest professional organization in the field, subscribed to by 85,000 members in 135 countries.
Members can read the magazine story here.