Amateur Inventor Creates Machine That Turns Garbage Into Energy
A man from Worcestershire—a county in the West Midlands of England—has created a stunning device that creates energy from garbage.
Nik Spencer has invented a waste incinerator that allows him to successfully ‘recycle’ ordinary household garbage and turn it into energy.
The device, which is the size of an average washing machine is believed to have the ability to generate enough energy to heat an entire house. Mr. Spencer, who is an amateur inventor says that prototypes are already being tested. One day, he hopes, his device will become a regular item under kitchen worksurfaces, alongside dishwashers.
The amateur inventor has calculated that a device like his could help save massive amounts of carbon, if the waste material was treated directly at home, instead of being transported to larger sites.
The invention works using low-temperature pyrolysis – the decomposition of matter in the absence of oxygen.
The device is called the HERU which stands for the Home Energy Resources Unit.
The device can recycle most household garbage, including nappies, coffee cups, and plastic. It works in a rather simple way.
The machine heats up the garbage and turns it into a small amount of ash, which can easily be flushed safely away in the drain.
The HERU is attached to a boiler which allows it to filter out any potentially dangerous gases. Before arriving in the boiler, the waste gasses are filtered through a patented system, which removes dangerous chemicals and unwanted smell. However, it also goes through the boiler’s filters, which makes the final gas emissions safe and odorless. It is noteworthy to mention that the HERU does not recycle metal and glass, as these artifacts require much larger temperatures to burn. However, Mr. Spencer has said that if these items end up in the machine by accident, they won’t cause any harm.
The ‘revolutionary’ invention cost around $16,000 to build. “I can see a time in the future where the waste collection is completely eradicated and the only materials being recycled are glass and metal. It is completely inefficient to collect recycling from a home to be taken to a site to be incinerated to generate heat to be used to fuel someone’s home.” “What I wanted to do was to effectively cut out the middleman and build something that could do the job of using these materials to generate heat on a smaller scale, added the amateur inventor. HERU’s seem to have become popular and the device is already being used at a home, a café and a business in Worcestershire. Mr. Spencer hopes to begin mass-production in 2020, with a price tag of around £3,500 or around $4,700. Source: MailOnl.
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