POWERED BY POO: COULD ELECTRIC VEHICLES BE POWERED BY HYDROGEN HARVESTED FROM SEWAGE?

Researchers from WMG, University of Warwick, have produced hydrogen from wastewater for Severn Trent following the water company’s challenge to find a more sustainable way to treat wastewater.

Treating wastewater is a vital process, as it removes pathogens and protects the environment. However this comes at its own environmental cost, as it is highly energy intensive, using around three per cent of energy use in the UK – the equivalent to 13 billion kilowatt hours.

Hydrogen is valuable as a renewable source and could be sold to the chemicals and plastics industry or used in hydrogen fuel cells for energy storage or electric vehicles. The ability to take hydrogen from wastewater provides a new economic and environmental opportunity – however until now it has been incredibly expensive to achieve.

The water and waste company Severn Trent challenged researchers from WMG,

University of Warwick to finding a more energy-efficient way to treat wastewater, with the team successfully building on research into Microbial Electrolysis Cells.

These involve using electromagnetic microorganisms to break down organic pollutants in wastewater, producing clean water and hydrogen gas.

But don’t get too excited – although this all sounds promising it hasn’t yet been developed on an industrial scale, as the anode materials – which are used in the reaction to breakdown the organic pollutants – are made of graphite or carbon, and cost several hundred pounds per square metre, and produce low rates for hydrogen.

So the university’s researchers, led by Dr Stuart Coles, looked at alternative anode materials and processing methods, and identified recycled carbon fibre mats as an alternative anode, which costs just £2 per square metre.

Dr Coles said: “We are really excited about this technology. By taking waste from the automotive and aerospace sectors, we have developed a circular solution to a long-standing problem. Instead of just treating the wastewater, we are now able to extract value from it in the form of hydrogen at a lower cost than ever before.

Bob Stear, Chief Engineer at Severn Trent added: “The performance boost and cost savings demonstrated from this research mean that technology is one step closer to being cost-competitive with existing wastewater treatment assets.

“WMG have also demonstrated that this technology has the potential to create a more circular wastewater treatment process which will be essential to delivering on our long-term sustainability goals and Net Zero plans.

“We’re currently scoping scaling up the technology at our test-bed plant in Redditch.”

Self-testing Covid-19 kit gets regulatory approval

A COVID-19 self-testing system featuring a unique app powered by artificial intelligence has been given Europe-wide regulatory certification in a world-first decision that can revolutionise personal and homebased diagnostics.

The Test To Go app was developed by Excalibur Healthcare Services in partnership with Oxford Science Park based-clinical AI company, Sensyne Health plc, using its MagnifEye technology which underwent extensive testing trials with the Department of Health & Social Care.

The Excalibur Test To Go app used in conjunction with the Excalibur CEmarked lateral flow test is the first testing system of its kind to receive full certification and could have a game- changing impact on self-testing, said the company.

The system enables people to take a lateral flow test, record the result through the app and receive fast certification of their status from Excalibur’s laboratories in Cambridge. Results are automatically sent to Public Health England averting the need for users to complete additional form filling.