UCSC’s New Hydrogen Production from Wastewater
Electrolysis is used to create ozone. Monterey One Water Treatment Facility
Efficiently produces hydrogen gas from solar energy while in turn remediating organic waste from wastewater
With the drastic increase of human population, there is an ever-growing demand for energy and clean water. Distinct strategies have been used to address these two needs separately; the municipal wastewater is collected by local wastewater plants for purification and subsequent reuse as reclaimed water, while energy is produced largely by burning hydrocarbons.
Typical flow of wastewater and use of Ozone
Millions of tons of wastewater is produced from industrial and agricultural operations each year and about 25 billion US dollars are spent annually for wastewater treatment in the United States alone. Meanwhile, the use of natural gas/petroleum generates greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals. There is urgent need to employ energy-efficient processes for wastewater treatment, and simultaneously recover the energy stored in organic matter in wastewater.
“As natural resources as we have traditionally viewed them become more scarce and costly, there is a greater imperative to focus on circular systems and resource recovery from first generation uses,” according to Dustin G. Jolley, Founder & Principal of OurEnergy. “In the years to come, recovery of energy, raw materials, and sources of fresh water from waste streams will go from the lab to the mainstream. We are excited to put these systems into use in practical applications in our infrastructure future-proofing and modernization work, and keep pushing the commercialization, scale and cost competitiveness of circular and sustainable systems as the new norm.”
Santa Cruz Works Dream: Use the electrolysis systems at wastewater treatment plants to create hydrogen; then sell the hydrogen to cover the costs of running the facility.
TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION
The device combines a biophotoanode with a semiconductor photocathode. When light shines on the photocathode, a sufficient voltage is produced to facilitate electrohydrogenesis by electrogenic bacteria in the biophotoanode that generate electrons from organic waste. The photocathode and biophotoanode are separated by a proton exchange membrane (“PEM”). The device directly interfaces the biophotoanode with the photocathode forming what is known as a Z-scheme microbial photoelectrochemical system.
A proof of concept of the device was able to achieve 1% solar conversion efficiency as well as a soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removal rate of 200 mg/L/day and conversion of near opaque wastewater to nearly clear water.
APPLICATIONS
Bioproduction of hydrogen gas
Water bioremediation
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFORMATION
Country: United States Of America
Type: Published Application
Number: 20180230028 (http://www.google.com/patents/US20180230028)
Dated / Case: 08/16/2018 / 2015- 377
Additional Patent Pending
CONTACT Jeff M. Jackson. / jjackso6@ucsc.edu
INVENTOR: Li, Yat
KEYWORDS
Hydrogen generation, Wastewater remediation, Bioremediation, Solar energy, Z-scheme, Microbial
photoelectrochemical system, Wastewater Treatment, Biophotoanode, Semiconductor photocathode, Electogenic bacteria
CATEGORIZED AS
Biotechnology (https://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/categories.aspx?id=2)
Industrial/ Energy (https://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/categories.aspx?id=31)
Energy (https://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/categories.aspx?id=5)
Hydrogen (https://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/categories.aspx?id=45)
Solar (https://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/categories.aspx?id=48)
RELATED CASES: 2015-377-0, 2013-222-1
ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGIES BY THESE INVENTORS
Hydrogen-Treated Semiconductor Metal Oxides For Photoelectrochemical (PEC) Water Splitting (https://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/NCD/23228.html?int_campaign=Inventors-Other-Tech-section) Self-Biased and Sustainable Microbial Electrohydrogenesis Device (https://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/NCD/23430.html?int_campaign=Inventors-Other-Tech-section)
University of California, Santa Cruz
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