In the video above, David Wernick of UCLA explains the research his team is doing to turn feces into a great—and undeniably renewable—source of biofuel.
Until now, corn has received most of the attention as the key ingredient in ethanol, but it doesn’t have the same burning properties as other fuels. It’s not energy-dense, and it’s corrosive to metal and the current fuel infrastructure. So the team at UCLA is looking at poop—sewage and agricultural waste—and plant matter to see if they can be turned into an advanced biofuel that’s energy-dense and compatible with our hardware.
The key to the whole thing is certain bacteria, bacillus subtilis, which can convert waste proteins to alcohol biofuel and ammonia fertilizer. Now the team is trying to figure out how to coax the bacteria into producing higher yields. Watch the video for a more in-depth look at the team’s research.
