Separating Wastewater with Sunlight

Apr-30-19 A novel swiss cheese chamber design and some helpful bacteria have opened the door to a new way to collect hydrogen from wastewater.

Developed by a team from Princeton University, the technique relies on a specially-designed chamber outfitted with a ‘swiss cheese’ black silicon interface. The system also includes bacteria that will consume the organic matter in the water, generating an electrical current in the process that aids the splitting process.

Using a lamp to simulate sunlight in tests resulted in a successful separation of the organic compounds and hydrogen in the wastewater—which was also the first example of actual wastewater being used to produce hydrogen via photocatalysis.

More Info about this Invention:

[EUREKALERT.ORG]
[ENGINEERING.PRINCETON.EDU]

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