Kitchen gadget turns rubbish into energy
Incinerator ‘is the future of recycling’
A FATHER has invented a waste incinerator which allows his family to recycle their rubbish at home.
Nik Spencer, 48, says the device, which is about the size of a washing machine, generates enough energy to heat a house.
Prototypes are being tested and he hopes that one day the incinerator will become commonplace, fitting under work surfaces alongside dishwashers.
Mr Spencer’s invention – called The Home Energy Resources Unit, or HERU – can recycle most household waste, including nappies and plastic. It works by heating up the rubbish and turning it into a small amount of ash, which can be flushed safely down the drain.
One eight-hour cycle can produce enough energy to heat a tankful of hot water, as well as burning rubbish which would otherwise end up in landfill.
It does not recycle metal and glass – which require much higher temperatures to break down – but if those items end up in the machine accidentally, they will not cause any harm.
Mr Spencer, who lives with his wife Jodie, 46, and their two children in Evesham, Worcestershire, came up with the idea while running a recycling plant which sent out a fleet of lorries to collect renewable materials.
Mr Spencer, whose invention cost £12,000 to build, said: ‘I can see a time in the future where 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.’
The HERU works using low-temperature pyrolysis – the decomposition of matter in the absence of oxygen. Rubbish is put into a cylinder the size of a washing machine drum. The chamber is heated to 100C (212F) which dries the moisture from the waste to create steam. This steam passes over heat exchangers which transfers it to heat the water supply. The temperature is then ramped up to 300C (572F) which triggers the pyrolysis and turns the rubbish into a charcoal-like substance.
Oxygen is then pumped back into the chamber and the pyrolised waste is burnt. The energy produced heats the water in a boiler. After a full cycle, users simply flush the remaining ash – about a teaspoon full – down the drain.
The process takes between five and eight hours.
Mr Spencer, who now works fulltime on the HERU, says that for every 1kWh of power required by the HERU, it produces 2.5kWh. He hopes to begin production in 2020, with an estimated price of £3,500.