The complex process involves extracting the chemical energy from pollutants and organic material in waste water and converting it into electricity using microbial fuel cells.

Similar to common chemical fuel cells, microbial fuel cells use microbes as catalysts instead of a chemical fuel such as hydrogen or methane.

"All of the power that is produced is from renewable sources – the pollutants in the waste water," professor Jurg Keller said.

"It`s all happening in a thin biofilm, a sort of slime layer on the electrode where bacteria are growing and directly producing electrical current."

Keller told the Sydney Morning Herald that electricity was generated by the slime in a way similar to how energy was released from burning wood.

While Keller said it was not likely waste water would provide power on a large scale, the cells could be used to generate renewable electricity to power waste water treatment plants, while at the same time removing the pollutants.

"You should be able to generate sufficient energy from pollutants in waste water to run the entire treatment process," he said.

Keller and his colleagues are continuing their research into the microbial fuel cells and expect early applications to arise from the technology within five years.

"It is a novel technology that has a big future," he said.

The researchers will receive $1,300,000 in funding over the next five years as part of the Australian Research Council`s Discovery Project Grants, announced on November 9.