UC Riverside Engineers Reveal Technology That Turns Human Waste Into Fuel

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — Engineers at UC Riverside unveiled a new technology that turns human waste into fuel.

Research engineer Junior Castillo said a two-story pressurized reactor, which reaches temperatures of almost 1,400 degrees, combines waste and other organic ingredients to create useable fuels.

"What it does is it burns carbonaceous materials and it turns into a different type of gas," he said. "You can make hydrogen gas out of it, you can make natural gas out of it or we can make electricity out of it."

CBS2's Tom Wait reported that there are two essential ingredients to the process: treated human waste and wood chips.

Researchers said the innovation has the potential of saving billions of dollars and could be a priceless benefit to the environment.

"We'll never run out of human waste and wood chips," Castillo said.