Novel Microbial Hydrogen Production from Biomass Containing Waste Water

The treatment of waste water consumes a significant amount of energy, in order to reduce the organic matter to levels safe for environmental discharge. This project will develop a novel microbial-based approach to convert the organic matter in waste water into a valuable commodity, namely hydrogen. This approach would simultaneously clean the waste water and produce a fuel that can be sold to help recover the costs of treatment. Phase I will demonstrate the process on the lab bench scale, measure performance at different operating parameters, optimize the geometrical configuration, and reduce the scale of the laboratory demonstration by a factor of five (to a one cubic foot reactor). Finally, the data collected will be used to estimate the capital and operating costs of a full-scale plant. Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by the Applicant: A novel process that can generate hydrogen from waste-water streams and other biomass sources can significantly reduce our nation's dependence on foreign energy sources. Small, off-grid alternative-energy applications where wastewater treatment is needed could benefit from this technology.