Microbe converts sludge into ethanol

Two companies said Wednesday that they have developed a method for turning sewage sludge into ethanol.

Israel-based Applied CleanTech and Marlborough, Mass.-based Qteros created a joint development project that combines sewage treatment technology and a microbial process for converting biomass into ethanol.

Applied CleanTech's feedstock which can be used to make electricity or liquid fuels.

(Credit: Applied CleanTech)

The method can turn municipal solid waste into a fuel and reduce the amount of sludge processed by traditional treatment facilities, the companies said. Many researchers have been studying ways to extract usable energy from sewage sludge but there are not any commercial operations that make liquid fuel.

Applied CleanTech's core technology, which is already used in treatment plants, extracts the biosolids from raw sewage, which is a way to reduce the overall amount of wastewater that needs to be treated.

In its partnership with Qteros, the biosolids are used as a feedstock to produce ethanol. Qteros, founded two years ago, is developing an ethanol-making process in which a naturally occurring microorganism digests the cellulose in biomass and turns it into ethanol. It's an alternative to the traditional multistep, enzyme-based method.

"Our customer is every municipality that has a waste water treatment plant," said Jeff Hausthor, Qteros co-founder and senior project manager, said in a statement, adding that the process reduces the expense of operating waste water plants.

[MadLyb]

Now, this is a biofuel I can support.

[xilonic]

We all are already supporting it, especially after the morning cup of coffee!

[makryger]

My question: How much money/energy are they spending converting that sludge to ethanol?

[snigglepop]

Wow, you should mention that question to the scientists! I bet they never even considered whether there would be a net gain!

[notsatch]

And so the sh*t has become proverbial Shinola! Just to complete the circle, cars should henceforth come equipped with fart can mufflers.

The new corporate motto: Take a dump, prime the pump!

Question, if you run your car on McDonald's used frying oils and your exhaust smells like french fries? What does the exhaust from this smell like?

[Joe Real]

It is first converted into ethanol through distillation, and it is a very excellent purification process, similar to water distillation. And if you remove the heads and tails during distillation, you are left with ethanol, which is alcohol, which turn mainly into CO2 and water when used as fuel.

Unlike spent oil at McD, you don't purify these vegetable oils, just filter it, perhaps using some other chemical processes to remove glycerine, but you don't purify it, that is why you can smell the french fries.

[Randomletters1]

This actually sounds very straightforward. Microbial processes are low on energy input needed (the microorganisms do the work, and derive their energy from the digestion process) and this process adds to their current offering which is already removing the solids/feedstock from sewage.

Why weren't humans designed to excrete complex hydrocarbons? Yet another issue to bring up at the next Intelligent Design forum.

[zyxxy]

Humans weren't designed to operate powered vehicles. Ask the next Amish person that you meet. Hence, horse drawn carriages. Powered conveyance is the devil's work.

[tech_crazy]

Imagine if humans were designed to indeed do so. Tubes sticking out from you know where or sitting on collection devices! Back as kids, we used to joke about sitting on LPG (liquefied petroleum gas - common cooking gas) cylinders to refill them!

[jesuguru]

Maybe because our Intelligent Designer knows that complex hydrocarbons (including ethanol) are already overpolluting His environment? Why use an article like this as an outlet for your unrelated anti-ID fervor? Plenty of other boards for that.

[luke_marsh]

well someone had to do it Thats all I'm saying