Original text : These days, more and more companies are finding that sewage is a veritable “black gold.” In recent years, sewage sludge has been mined for electricity, fertilizer, fish food, and gasoline. Now two companies have partnered up to turn sewage into ethanol. While others have worked to produce ethanol from municipal solid waste, sewage from wastewater has been a relatively unmined ethanol source. The cellulosic ethanol company Qteros, in Marlborough, MA, and Applied Cleantech (ACT), a recycling company based in Israel, are combining technologies to turn sewage into ethanol biofuel. According to the companies, the process could produce high-quality biofuel while cutting down on monthly bills at wastewater treatment plants. Jeff Hausthor, Qteros co-founder and senior project manager, says the recycling process uses solids from wastewater treatment as its primary feedstock - a material that facilities usually pay to have trucked away to landfills or used as fertilizer. “Given the feedstock has a negative cost, it is going to save every municipality money while they’re generating energy from something they needed to throw out before,” says Hausthor. Sewage makes sense not just from an economic standpoint but also from a scientific one, according to Jim McMillan, a principal biochemical engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory who is not involved in the project. One of the major steps in cellulosic ethanol production involves breaking down plant matter and separating cellulose from its tough lignin shell, either by mechanically shearing the material or by treating it with harsh chemicals. In contrast, the sewage that streams in from sewer pipes contains plant matter that is high in cellulose and low in lignin. Six years ago, researchers at Applied Cleantech recognized sewage as an alternative cellulose source and designed a system to recover cellulose from wastewater treatment plants. As incoming sewage flows through the system, a series of mesh trays filters out liquid and recovers solids. Suspension tanks filter out sand from sludge, and the leftover mix is dried and pressed into pellets or pulp. For the past year, Qteros has been feeding the mix to its ethanol-producing organism, the Q microbe, a bacterium that naturally eats plant material and ferments cellulose into ethanol using its own enzymes. Researchers found that the Q microbe produced 120 to 135 gallons of ethanol per ton of waste mix, compared with 100 gallons of ethanol per ton of conventional feedstocks like corn stover. “We’ve reached a point where we know the Q likes the Recyllose,” says Hausthor. “We know how to pretreat the material and get it ready for the Q to eat, fork and knife, and we’re comfortable where we are on the technical side.” NREL’s McMillan says the group’s results are encouraging, but he cautions that in an actual wastewater treatment plant, sewage may harbor organisms similar to the Q microbe that may be eager to compete for cellulose. “Sewage is dirty stuff, laden with all kinds of microbial activity,” says McMillan. “There might be a big biological background that might compete with the Q microbe, and everyone could join the party, the sugar-fest, making a lot of stuff you didn’t want to make.” The companies plan to license the technology to wastewater treatment plants and municipalities. Qteros also just announced a location for a new $3.2 million pilot plant in western Massachusetts where the company will explore ways to pretreat feedstocks to get them ready for the Q microbe to convert into ethanol. Eventually, Qteros plans to build a plant with an integrated biorefinery where the company will introduce the Q microbe to a number of feedstocks to produce ethanol at a larger scale. The biofuels company Mascoma is also using microorganisms to turn waste into cellulosic ethanol. Justin van Rooyen, director of business development at Mascoma, says the partnership between sewage and ethanol is a promising one. “At first glance it seems strange, but it makes sense,” says van Rooyen. “There are a lot of assets to a wastewater treatment facility. There is already waste disposal on site, and the feedstock is collected in one place. It works as a great demonstration. Whether it will make good business remains to be seen.” Summery : Biofuel from sewage This text is about Biofuel from sewage by Jennifer Chu. At the beginning of the text the author tells us that a lot of companies are finding that sewage is a veritable “ black gold “. Usually sewage sludge is mined on: electricity, fertilizer, fish food and gasoline, but two companies ( cellulosic ethanol company Qteros and recycling company Applied Cleantech ( ACT ) )decided to transform sewage to ethanol biofuel. This process could produce highquality biofuel while cutting down on monthly bills at wastewater treatment plants. According to Jeff Hausthor who is the co-founder of the company, solids from wastewater treatment are the basic raw material in the recycling process. According to Jim McMillan, who is principal biochemical engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, but he is not involved in the project. sewage makes sense not only from an economic standpoint but also from a scientific one. One of the main steps in the production of cellulosic ethanol is : the breakdown of plant matter and separating cellulose from its tough lignin shell, either by mechanically shearing the material or by treating it with harsh chemicals. In contrast, the sewage that streams in from sewer pipes contains plant matter that is high in cellulose and low in lignin. Six years ago, scientists from Applied Cleantech recognized wastewater as an alternative source of cellulose and developed a system for recovering cellulose from treated wastewater. The solids are recovered from the incoming sewage liquid which is filtered out through a series of mesh trays. Suspension tanks filter out sand from sludge, and the leftover mix is dried and pressed into pellets or pulp. The bacterium that Qteros discovered – the microorganism Q- naturally ingests the plant material and ferments cellulose into ethanol using its own enzymes. It can produce between 120 to 135 gallons of ethanol per ton of mixed waste. McMillan says, although the group’s results are encouraging(inkarydżin), he warns that the actual sewage treatment plant may harbor organisms similar to the Q microorganism that can compete with the bacterium ( microorganism Q ) for cellulose. Companies that have developed the processing of wastewater into ethanol want to license this technology to sewage treatment plants and municipalities (minisipalitis), Also Qteros plans to build a plant with an integrated biorefinery, where the company will introduce the Q organism into a range of raw materials for ethanol processing on a larger scale. Not only Qteros and ATC convert wastewater into ethanol but also the biofuels company Mascoma. Director of business development at Mascoma says that sewage and ethanol are a promising partnership. Summing up the article what I was talking about was about biofuel which is obtained from sewage. Vocabulary : 1. wastewater treatment – oczyszczanie ścieków Sewage treatment plants are designed to work for at least 25 years. 2. feedstock – materiał wsadowy, surowiec Natural gas used purely as a feedstock in the production of carbon black. 3. pipe – rura New pipes have been laid in this area. 4. wastewater – ścieki The system will provide power to the city's wastewater treatment plant. 5. biorefinery – biorafineria A bio-refinery is a system that combines biomass conversion processes and equipment into a single plant producing chemicals, fuels and energy. 6. biofuel – biopaliwo A proposal for a biofuel power station has been turned down. 7. sewage sludge – szlam ściekowy The same funds must also cover new obligations for sewage sludge disposal. 8. fertilizer – nawóz A good fertilizer can significantly boost crop yields. 9. sewage treatment plant – oczyszczalnia ścieków A sewage treatment plant was built on the island in 1972. 10. crude sewage – ścieki surowe, ścieki nieoczyszczone Although the Aeron has suffered from intermittent pollution including some severe incidents in the 1970s caused by creamery waste and crude sewage escapes in the Felinfach area, the principal impacts are now diffuse agricultural waste, pesticides from agriculture and acidification especially from upland forestry plantations. 11. waste storage – składowanie odpadów There still is no solution to the vexing problem of nuclear waste storage. 12. pollutants – środki zatruwające środowisko Some of these pollutants can cause cancer or other serious health effects. 13. litter – śmieci, odpadki ( wyrzucane w parkach, na ulicach ) People who drop litter will be severely punished. 14. dump – wysypisko, śmietnisko The garbage truck took the garbage to the dump. 15. renewable resources – zasoby odnawialne The fact is none of them are actually using renewable resources for their power. 16. environmental toxification – zatrucie środowiska 17. exhaust fumes – spaliny Some people say they are sick of the exhaust fumes. 18. industrial waste – odpady przemysłowe Industrial waste and sewage are running down the same tubes. 19. drains – kanalizacja The drain in our house is clogged. 20. decay – rozkładać się, gnić Organic material creates gas as it decays. Questions : 1. What have you learnt from the articles you have read? 2. What are some important facts you have read about? 3. What type of text is it and who might be interested in reading them? 4. Which three details do you find the most or least interesting and why? 1. In this text i learnt that we can change sewage into ethanol. This is easy way to improve our environment. 2. The most important fact in this article is that we can change sewage into ethanol and in this way make of sewage that they wouldn’t be used in any way. 3. In my opinion this type of text is for everybody who is interested in enviorment and in sewage. This is a popular science text. 4. The first fact is the sewage is a veritable „ black gold „. Secound fact is that the sewage can be change into ethanol. And the last but not leats fact is that the bacterium Q naturally ingests the plant material and ferments cellulose into ethanol using its own enzymes. It can produce between 120 to 135 gallons of ethanol per ton of mixed waste.