gepubliceerd op 2009-11-13 00:00:00.0
As you may know, traditional fuels like petroleum, natural gas and coal are becoming increasingly scarce. Scientists from over the whole world are trying to solve this problem. Some work on trying to find the last remnants of oil, gas and coal. Others are trying to find new ways of making electricity. We all know solar panels that generate electricity or heat up water. Hydropower plants and windmills have also existed for quite some time. There are also new developments. For example, generation of electricity by using salt- and fresh water, or producing and burning hydrogen to generate electricity. Even bacteria can be used to generate electricity! This takes place in a so-called Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC). Not all bacteria are suitable for this, but some bacteria can be used to clean waste water and generate electricity at the same time. In the way that you and I obtain our energy from a cheese sandwich for example and need oxygen to breathe, these bacteria can live (obtain energy) from waste water and breathe without oxygen but by using an electrode. My research at Wageningen University aims to find bacteria that are good at this. I put sludge from a wastewater treatment plant into a MFC and determined whether the bacteria were able to generate electricity. This turned out to be the case! The waste water was cleaned and electricity was generated. After that I isolated DNA to identify the bacteria. Other people are studying the design of an MFC to improve its ability to generate electricity, or make the waste water cleaner. It is possible that in future you will charge your mobile phone with electricity generated by bacteria from waste water!
