Oregon Public Broadcasting

Newly published research from Oregon State University suggests a way to cost effectively make hydrogen to fuel the cars of the future.

The fuel could be affordable because plain old sewage water is your raw material.  Correspondent Tom Banse explains.

Corvallis-based researcher Hong Liu believes we’ll all drive clean, efficient hydrogen fuel cell cars one day.

For that to become reality, scientists need to find a cheaper way to mass produce hydrogen gas.

The most common ways of generating hydrogen today are splitting water by electrolysis or by breaking down natural gas.  But Liu thinks she’s on to something better.

What’s surprising is her raw material: sewage.  Her team put electrodes in wastewater and let naturally occurring bacteria go to work.  They produced hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Hong Liu: “We need to have a power supply, but compared to splitting water the energy requirement for this is much lower than that.”

The environmental engineer says the process using sewage water needs more improvements before it can be commercialized.  That means producing fuel for your car from sewage is still many years away.

Online:

Oregon State University