Waste Power

A team of researchers from the Pennsylvania State University have created a gadget that can generate energy from waste water. The device has been designed such that it can also treat waste water simultaneously.

The team used the process of reverse electrodialysis to execute this experiment. Scientists used ion-exchange membrane stacks in microbial reverse-electrodialysis cells to efficiently capture salinity-gradient energy from ammonium bicarbonate salt solutions to create power. Generating power from waste water is possible as it contains a number of salts.

The new gadget can be useful in developing nations, where the need for alternative and cheaper sources of energy is growing at an alarming rate.