Research teams develops HTL method to produce biofuel from wet waste

In Massachusetts, a team of researchers from UMass Lowell, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and China Agricultural University in Beijing has developed a new, sustainable way of converting wet biological waste into diesel-compatible fuel, using heat and water.

The process, called hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), converts wet, solid biowaste – such as animal manure from farms, food scraps from restaurants and food-processing plants, and algae from wastewater treatment facilities – into liquid fuel that can be blended with regular diesel.