• Question: can fatburgs be burnt and if so, could they be used as a type of fuel?

    Asked by anon-177552 to Andrew, Becky, Daniel, Helen, Nicola, Urslaan on 12 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Daniel Marsh

      Daniel Marsh answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      There are many things that can be burnt and provide some form of energy so I am sure that fatburgs could be used as fuel, however if you consider the cost of extracting them from the ancient sewage systems and processing them into a useable fuel against the amount of energy that they would then provide (and not all fatburgs would be equal) it would still be cheaper to use fossil fuels. Cost is one of the major barriers that prevents the uptake of ‘green tech’ and clean energy such as hydrogen cells.

    • Photo: Urslaan Chohan

      Urslaan Chohan answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      Fatbergs are possible sources of fuel – in fact in theory anything is! They are very deeply embedded in the sewage systems however so figuring out how to get them out is a project in itself! Maybe you’ll be the one to research it in the future 🙂

    • Photo: Andrew Singer

      Andrew Singer answered on 13 Jun 2018:

      I see no reason why you couldn’t set fire to a fatburg. But as they are full of pathogens and rubbish, it might take some effort to make any (safe) use of them.

    • Photo: Helen Littler

      Helen Littler answered on 15 Jun 2018:

      If poo can be used to power buses then why not?

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