Biofuel From Waste Tomatoes

Biofuels have been around for a number of years now, and have proven to be mostly successful in the way they are derived and used. Although in some respects biofuels cannot match the complete set of characteristics of their fossil counterparts, the bio versions benefit from sustainable production, and less pollution when used.

In South Dakota, a team of American and foreign scientists have developed a new technology able to power biological fuel cells with energy derived from tomato waste. As the science team described in their simplest possible terms – the biofuel cell converts tomato waste to energy. The development of the new technology took several years during which various means of energy deriving and conversion were tested in order to find and the most efficient way to create energy from tomato waste. Although developed in South Dakota, the project’s benefits are aimed at the state of Florida, as this is where tomatoes are an essential crop, but this also where the most biowaste from tomatoes is generated in the whole of the United States. The issue with tomato waste in Florida is that there is so much of it, yet there is no good treatment process for that particular type of bio waste. In total, the state generates 360 thousand tons of tomato waste every year, with most of it rotting away. This shows that the tomato waste to energy scheme developed in South Dakota is just right for Florida.

The fuel

There are different sources of fuel for the tomato waste to energy scheme. Generally the fuel is derived from all types of tomato waste, and there is a lot of it. Most of the fuel comes from the substandard percentage of tomatoes in annual harvests in the state of Florida. Tomatoes not worthy of the supermarket shelve are only one source of fuel, the other is tomato waste leftover from the food industry. The manufacturing of things like ketchup, sauces, and other cooking products also generates a certain amount of tomato waste which until now went unused.

How it works

The fuel cell uses the energy stored in tomato waste. This energy though needs to be released and then harvested. The chemical composition of rotting tomato waste apparently makes an ideal source for energy used for enhancing of electrochemical reactions (the conversion and harvesting of energy by the fuel cell). The rotting tomato waste, whose chemical composition is the key, is fed into a special device, which extracts and harvests the electrons contained in tomato waste. Right now the electrical output of the system is quite low with about 10mg of tomato waste producing around 0.3 watts of electricity but it is expected that refining the process will quickly scale up the results.

The waste to energy sector is not only important for generation of cleaner energy but as an industry it provides employment for more than seven million people worldwide. That includes rubbish removal, treatment & processing, as well as actual conversion and harvesting plants.