Two engineers from Stanford University engineers say they’re working on a wastewater treatment process that would replace conventional aeration with an anaerobic process that would yield combustible nitrous oxide – which could be burned in a rocket thruster. Craig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, is teaming with Brian Cantwell, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics, who designs rocket thrusters that run on nitrous oxide. Their goal is to make wastewater treatment “energy-neutral and emissions-free,” according to an article at physorg.com. Their premise is that aeration is
