I read a brief article in the dailygreen today regarding the prospect of converting municipal waste water into power which is both exciting and relatively hard to read. An Israeli based company, Applied Clean Tech, has partnered with Massachusetts based firm Qteros in an effort to make cellulosic ethanol. The process is two fold: ACT starts “by removing cellulose (the part of the plant we can’t digest) from both the sludge and agricultural liquid waste, then Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Qteros ferments this treated material into cellulosic ethanol using a fast-acting microbe sourced from Massachusetts’ Quabbin Reservoir.”

Although the plan has yet to find any commercial backing or wide interest, the project could make ethanol less of a political barb, considering all the debate which has raged in the past year over its effects on corn prices. The process right now is called the “Sewage Recycling System” (SRS), and certainly figures to be an innovation to watch in the future.

[image via National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health]