UK technology provider QinetiQ is trying to sell US forces on solutions to the smelly and insecure problem of waste disposal. The company has already tested elements of an Integrated Waste Management System (IWMS) on British warships and is proposing it for the Royal Navy's new CVF aircraft carriers. The system uses sophisticated membrane bioreactors and pyrolysis - a high-end thermal destruction technique - to retrieve drinkable water from liquid waste and to dispose cleanly of solids.
The savings on a large ship can be massive. One team of naval research consultants MSCL investigated the cruise-ship industry and found, that the crew of a CVN produced less trash than the passengers and crew on a large cruise ship Sun Princess, but the US Navy spent ten times as much and used more than three times as many people to get rid of it.
QinetiQ is also developing a land-based version of the system, packaged in 20-foot ISO containers, designed for army encampments. Benefits: less mess in the local environment, a better clean water supply - the system will also extract water from diesel generator exhausts - and security, because there's less need to employ local contractors.
--Bill Sweetman
(Photo credit: Ridge 2000)
Comments