Cleaning Wastewater, Making Hydrogen

Science Daily writes about a new fuel cell that converts wastewater to hydrogen. The cell uses biological fermentation to achieve its ends, but with a twist: by adding a 0.25 VDC charge, Penn State researcher Dr. Bruce Logan was able to quadruple the amount of hydrogen produced. The process works by forcing the bacteria to process what are normally "dead end" byproducts of fermentation, acetic and butyric acids.