Stanford competes in finals of national clean energy competition

A Stanford team finished in the top six of a U.S. Department of Energy challenge.

A Stanford team with a novel idea finished in the top six of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National University Clean Energy Business Challenge earlier this month.

In May, the Stanford team’s project beat out more than 60 other university teams to win the competition’s western regional segment, earning a $100,000 prize. The award also earned them a trip to Washington to compete in the finals.

The Stanford Nitrogen Group has developed a new wastewater treatment process that removes and recovers renewable energy from waste nitrogen.

Stanford PhD student Yaniv Scherson and one of his advisers, Brian Cantwell, professor of aeronautics and astronautics, traveled to D.C. to showcase a new technology that removes nitrogen from wastewater while generating energy.

Scherson’s other adviser on the project is Craig Criddle, a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Although the project did not win one of the top two national prizes, being in the top six had its privileges. While in D.C., Scherson had a chance to meet Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

“Being selected as a clean-tech finalist by the DOE is a tremendous honor,” Scherson said. “It shows the promise and opportunity in water technologies. We are very grateful for the recognition.”

Scherson and his team began developing the low-cost technology in 2009 with a grant from the Stanford Woods Institute’s Environmental Venture Projects initiative. The process recovers energy from waste nitrogen by converting it into nitrous oxide. The nitrous oxide can be used to burn biogas, which results from the recovery of methane from organic waste, or to power a small rocket thruster that converts the nitrous into clean, hot air.

The technology is an important part of a larger effort at Stanford to develop economical and energy-efficient ways of recovering clean water and other valuable products from wastewater. Current wastewater treatment in the U.S. is energy intensive and has not focused on resource recovery.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Re-inventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure, headed by Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellow Dick Luthy, helps support the ongoing wastewater-to-energy project.

Rob Jordan is the communications writer for the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Last modified Tue, 21 May, 2013 at 9:17