Microbe converts sludge into ethanol

Two companies said on Wednesday 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 combined sewage treatment technology and a microbial process for converting biomass into ethanol.

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, ago is developing an ethanol-making process where a naturally occurring microorganism digests the cellulose in biomass and turns it into ethanol. It's an alternative to the traditional multi-step, enzyme-based method.

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

source: news.cnet