Science

We use microorganisms to produce electrical energy by consuming biodegradable organic matter found in wastewater. Our systems harness that energy to:

• Recover useful resources, such as pure metals, from industrial wastewater containing a mixture of metals and other wastes
• Convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds to be used as feedstocks for the chemical industry, or as liquid fuels to replace fossil fuels
• Drive microbial processes to make novel nanometallic compounds with useful properties, such as quantum dots, nanocatalysts and nanomagnets. 

Our project's life cycle sustainability assessment (LSCA) examines the full social, environmental and economic costs and benefits associated with treating wastewater using microbial electrochemical technology, enabling a comparison with conventional wastewater treatment. This analysis is vital to inform industrialists, policymakers and regulators on the viability of microbial electrochemical systems for the treatment of wastewates as part of the circular economy.