Mississippi State University researcher commercializing wastewater sludge for biodiesel

In Mississippi, an associate professor at Mississippi State University believes that if half of the sludge produced at the country’s wastewater treatment facilities was used as feedstock for biodiesel, about 2 billion gallons could be produced annually. It’s only 0.5% of domestic diesel demand but it is something from currently nothing. With a pilot plant partially funded by the DOE to find the cheapest way to produce biodiesel from feedstock that has low fats content, by employing yeast and bacteria, through the Sustainable Energy Research Center he is looking to commercialize the technology.