MSI PI R. Roger Ruan and a PhD student in his group, Erik Anderson, have developed a process that converts scum, a byproduct of wastewater treatment, into biodiesel. A story about the process appears on the University of Minnesota News site: U of M wastewater treatment pilot promises to turn scum into profit.
Professor Ruan is on the faculty of the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering (a joint department of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences and the College of Science and Engineering) and is the director of the Center for Biorefining. He uses MSI resources to support research that has led to the scum-conversion process.
Added, 6/30/17: This research has been featured on Minneapolis/St. Paul tv stations KSTP: University of Minnesota Researchers Turn Scum Into Saving by Producing Biodiesel and WCCO: Wastewater Treatment Scum Converted to Fuel.