Engineers at Oregon State University in the US have made a breakthrough in the performance of microbial fuel cells that can produce electricity from wastewater.

Researchers say this could mean waste treatment plants could not only power themselves but could sell excess energy – changing how waste water is treated all over the world.

The potential of this technology was reported a few years ago, but at the time, sufficient electricity could not be generated.

Now these results have been achieved in the lab, the next step is to find funding and run a pilot programme, according to the researchers.

The findings have been published in the Energy and Environmental Science journal.

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