GLOBAL CHALLENGES

A Generator That Burns Waste Oil - Not Fuel

Dave Greenfield | Date: 02-12-10 | Comments

A new generator will burn polluting byproducts, saving the environment and cutting down your power bill.

The world has gotten itself into quite the energy fix: Our near-exclusive dependence on fossil fuels has created a situation in which we cannot live without them, but in which we cannot continue consuming them at the voracious rate we have been.

The Phoenix Power Group and Cyclone Power Technologies are developing an electric generator system that has the potential not only to lessen our dependence on oil, but also to help us utilize alternative resources more efficiently. The power generator will use a Cyclone engine to turn waste oil back into usable fuel.

Americans produce over 1.4 billion gallons of waste fuel each year. Not only is waste fuel a plentiful resource, but eliminating it will profoundly improve the environment. According to the EPA, the oil from just one oil change can contaminate 1 million gallons of water, or a year�s supply for as many as 50 people. Now consider that 500 million gallons of that waste fuel is not properly disposed of: This creates a pressing problem for millions of people.

Phoenix�s clean generator would address this growing concern, as well as put energy dollars back into consumers� pockets as they kick back about 50kW of electricity into the power grid. �Our goal is to bring these environmentally beneficial products to businesses, like oil change shops and fleet services providers, later this year,� says Thomas V. Thillen, Phoenix�s president.

At the heart of the generator is the highly efficient Cyclone engine, which is able to combust fuel in an external chamber at lower temperatures than traditional engines. This does not allow nitrogen oxide and other harmful emissions to form. The engine itself does not use oil, but instead has a water-lubricated system that is able to turn waste oil into clean energy.

Besides generators, Cyclone is continuing research to develop engines for cars, trucks, trains and ships that have the potential to reduce our oil dependency and create millions of new jobs.