The project goal is to develop and optimize a composite membrane system to extract energy, in the form of hydrogen gas, from high strength wastewater streams, turning a source of waste into a renewable resource. The system consists of a multilayered reactive membrane containing layers of (1) hydrophilic and (2) hydrophobic silica-based materials in contact with one another. Hydrogen-producing acetogenic bacteria are encapsulated in the hydrophilic layer where they can degrade energy rich organics in the waste into biohydrogen gas.