Thursday, 17 November 2011

PEE POWER! Part 1: MCFs

The moment we have all been waiting for is here!



Pee can be used as a fuel... revolutionary! The article  looks at the potential of using the compounds in urine to produce electricity using microbial fuel cells (MCFs). These little packages of micro-organisms use the biomass in urine and converts it into a form of renewable energy; renewable in the sense that as long as we're living, we're peeing!

Ieropoulos et al. (the authors of the article) go on to highlight the importance of this research and the wider implications of this technology. It offer one was or extracting N, K and P nutrients from urine which are often at high concentrations and out them to good, fertilising use; rather than spending billions to treat this waste water straight away, we could utilise more of the power from it and it will push treatment costs down; energy security, it just so happens where more people live, who all demand energy, more pee is, what a coincidence!

Animal urine can also be used... the possibilities are endless! But don't start filling up your car with the yellow stuff just yet...

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