Courtesy of WUSTL ImagesA $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation is helping University researchers develop a new form of waste treatment that is both greener and more cost-efficient than current waste breakdown technologies.
The recipient of the funding, called the Career grant, is Lars Angenent, assistant professor of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. Angenent will research microbial fuel cells (MFC), which convert waste into electricity.
The draw of MFC technology, however, lies not in the electricity it produces but in the energy and money it saves. The technology also allows the process to occur at a lower temperature.
“About two percent of all the energy used in the country goes to wastewater treatment,” said Angenent. But with the MFC, which reduces the energy required for waste breakdown, “you can actually use waste to generate energy.”
“It saves a lot of money, too,” said Miriam Rosenbaum, a post-doctoral research associate in Environmental Chemistry who is working closely with Angenent to develop the technology.
In addition to developing MFC technology, Angenent will create an accompanying booklet of science lessons relating to the cell and will incorporate his research into university and high school lab courses. He hopes that high schools and universities across the country will use his findings.
The MFC has already been integrated into lab work for the undergraduate course “Introduction to Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering,” and will also be used in a bioprocessing class and molecular biology lab for graduate students.
Furthermore, MFC technology will be taught in the science departments at Hazelwood Central High in Florissant, MO.
Between 100 and 120 students from the high school will study the MFC as a part of their biology and chemistry courses. They will then visit the University once or twice a year to work with the cells using the new technology.
The program is meant to add to the practical component of the students’ science education, and is meant to encourage those interested to consider careers in science and technology.
“It’s a good tool for the teachers if they want to really use the resources here to teach chemistry and biology,” said Angenent. “So many fundamental principles can be shown using the MFC.”
The MFC works much like a hydrogen fuel cell, which produces electricity by connecting two electrodes, called the anode and the cathode. The electrodes react with hydrogen and oxygen, and if the cell is catalyzed with a chemical substance such as platinum, an electric current is created through the wire connecting the two electrodes.
Unlike a hydrogen fuel cell, however, the MFC uses wastewater as its fuel source, and a mixed community of bacteria as its catalyst.
The largest lab-scale MFC currently in operation at the University is six liters and, using wastewater donated from local Anheuser-Busch brewery, produces five watts of electric power per cubic meter, about enough to light a small diode.
Professor Angenent is currently planning a pilot program to develop another MFC that could be several hundred liters.