By Lena Babaeva Coradini

An interesting and ambitious project to convert sewage from city residents to biomethane in waste treatment plants.  The plant will harvest methane from human waste produced in Manchester, U.K.:

While most sewage plants burn raw methane to create electricity, Manchester’s plant cleans the gas by removing CO2, moisture, and sulfides from the mix. The clear, odorless gas will have to be given a fake gas-like smell before it can be pumped into homes.

Manchester’s $7 million system, developed by National Grid and United Utilities, will produce enough biomethane to power 500 homes when it comes online in 2011. Human waste will also be used to power the utilities’ sludge tankers. In the future, Manchester’s sewage plant–the second largest in Britain–will produce enough waste-based biomethane for 5,000 homes. Eventually, the U.K. plans to use the biomethane in sewage plants around the country.

There are similar plans for San Antonio, Tex. that will harvest 90 percent of San Antonio’s waste to generate 1.5 million cubic feet of natural gas daily.