Products At Work The City of Portland, Ore., has installed a
200-kilowatt fuel cell in its wastewater treatment plant that
uses methane produced by the plant to generate power to run the
plant, thus reducing the purchase of electricity from power
stations. For years Portland had been creative in finding uses
for its methane. Some was used to heat boilers in the wastewater
plant, and some was sold to a neighboring asphalt roofing
company. However, the plant still produced more methane than the
City could use. Fuel cell power plants (FCPP) offered a viable
solution. Fuel cells use an electric generation technology that
converts methane into electricity, water, CO2 and usable heat.
They also can be powered by other fuel sources such as hydrogen.
With local policies to support sustainable practices and
utilization of anaerobic digester gas (ADG), Portland has begun
to power a fuel cell with methane from its wastewater treatment
plant to generate electricity and heat to the facility. In July
1998, Portland purchas