Newest biofuel: diapers

A cement plant in Utah found a new way to produce energy by burning diapers. Besides generating energy the company is getting paid to do that.

A cement plant uses heat to convert limestone into cement. This plant in Utah uses Little Mermaid Huggies as the fuel. With fuel costing one third of the operating cost, using Huggies helps the Devils' Slide Cement plant save nearly a million dollars a year.

The fuel-mix is made up of chunks of rubber tires and chopped up waste plastic. The Plastic waste comes from Kimberly-Clark's Huggies factory which is leftover chunks of disposable diapers.

They dump the waste into burners that preheat limestone to about 2000 degrees. It reduces coal consumption by 30 percent.

In the rotary kiln, the temperatures get even hotter, an incredible 3000 degrees, chemically transforming the limestone mix into Portland cement.

This new fuel not only saves money but also conserves a natural resource (coal) and keeps a lot of material out of landfills. Its a great example turning somebody's waste into something useful.

To Watch the Story go to KOAA.com and click on the video story link.
Source: KOAA.Com