Back in September, a company called NanoLogix announced it had been able to make hydrogen from the waste stream at a Welch Foods juice plant in Pennsylvania. Now, the radio show "The Allegheny Front," an environmental radio program, has taken a closer look at this technology and aired a report last week. You can hear it here (look for "Microbes Turn Waste to Power" and "Welch's Grape Juice Converted into Electricity") or read the transcript of the report here.

The process works like this: during the cleaning process at the plant, a lot of waste water is generated that has a bit of sugar in it. This easy-to-digest liquid is then fed to millions of microorganisms that produce hydrogen. Currently, the NanoLogix tests can get a liter of hydrogen from one gallon of wastewater that contains .3 percent sugar. The goal, though, is to use 16 percent sugar wastewater and get 55 liters of hydrogen from each gallon. Once perfected, the NanoLogix logic goes, this system could be installed at bottlers and beverage makers across the country, and we'll be one step closer to the hydrogen economy.

Related:

• Grape-flavored energy? Welch's, NanoLogix have generated hydrogen from bioreactor

[Source: NanoLogix, Inc.]