>> what are you doing, doc? >> i need fuel. go ahead. quick! get in the car. >> using trash and unused food to fuel the delorian in the movie "back to the future" seems relike science fiction in 1985, but a uta student is making science fiction a io reality. >> pretty cool. he found a way to convert waste to fuel and may lead to something called a microbial el tube in north texas. joelxa thomas has more. >> reporter: engineering student ben johnson udfound out hn there is a lot of waste left from marketing somethi mng as simple as a gallon of a milk. >> for every gallon of llmilk, there is 10 gallons of refuse waste and that comes from d all of the washing that has to do from all of the big containers and pasteurization. d >> reporter: he designed a mike robual fuel cell to buuse spoiled misplk, orange juice olkr other liquids. it would use tubes on a larger scale and a basic reaction with bacteria. >> and on one side, you have a bunk of oxygen and -- bunch of roxygen and another geside where the bacteria is living actnd it will go to the side wre there is more oxygen. >> it gets technical. et but he designed a be using a membrane and solar panel to convert that to electricity which in turn creates hydrogen and hydrogen is a fuel. >> you can collect that and use that in hydrogen fuel cell to power a forklift or something like. that. >> reporter: his idea win a prestigious statewide contest backed by private industry. >> one of the ideas that reduce waste, which this does and provides renewable energy, which it certainly does, and has the potential of creating ccommercial success and creating jobs. >> reporter: now, the contest backers are providing the seed money to develop the microbial fuel tube an d manufufacture it in texas. >> he had me until he said milk. ai after that, , i -- [ laughter ] >> that is >>great science. this idea could be a money saver for the dairy industry, too. it costs manufacturers tips of thousands if not more a month to get rid of the waste into te city wastewater syst wems. could be a win-win. >> really. smart people there. >>