NASA Scientists Turn Wastewater Into Fuel in SF
NASA scientists working at a San Francisco sewage treatment plant in Hunter’s Point believe they’ve developed a way to use wastewater to make biofuels.
The two-year NASA sponsored project - called Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) - is nearing completion at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant, which processes about 85 million gallons of the city’s sewage every day.
The main motivation for NASA’s OMEGA project is to rapidly develop a feasible alternative to fossil fuels for jet propellants, according to project scientist Jonathan Trent. “It is absolutely crucial that we move away from fossil fuels,” he said.
The production of biofuels through the processing of algae - which are the fastest growing plants on earth - has been acknowledged as a viable alternative, Trent said.