How does iMETland work? 

Wastewater treatment is typically based on biological degradation of the sewage through oxidative reactions where microbes generate electrons. Classical treatments must supply oxygen to get rid of those electrons, which represent a high cost for the user. In contrast, iMETland uses a type of natural microorganisms able to breakdown pollutants and transfer the electrons to a bed of electroconductive material made of pyrolized wood. This approach stimulates the electron transfer between microbial communities, the so-called ‘electrotalk’, and both metabolic activity and cleanup process are greatly enhanced so iMETLand outperforms classical constructed wetlands by 10-fold. We have now a device able to harvest some of those electrons as an electrical current. The electrotalk will allow us to explore the behaviour of microorganisms from a remote side using just our smart phone; this could be very useful for either quantify the efficiency of the treatment.