Waste Powered Battery for Rural Africa

Metabolic processes of bacteria living in soil can produce an electric charge and scientists have known this for a long time… The only problem was regarding the feasibility of this process as it was time consuming and only resulted in a low power output.

However…

A team of Harvard scientists have combined their considerable brain capacities and have come up with a crude technology to design an inexpensive battery (or a microbial fuel cell), which can produce enough current to power LED lights and charge cell phone batteries in rural Africa.

The methodology?

The device is simple to create. It consists of a graphite cloth (the anode) placed in the bottom of a container, covered with soil and a length of chicken wire (the cathode). A conductive wire connects the anode and the cathode to create a circuit. An LED is connected to the circuit. As the microbes eat the waste in the soil, they produce electrons which move through the bacteria network, moving from the anode through the conductive wire to get to the cathode. As this current flows through the circuit, an LED lights up.

How much power are we talking here?

A microbial fuel cell measuring 1 square meter would produce 1 volt, which could charge a cell phone. A microbial fuel cell measuring 5 square meters could power a lamp or a fan.

Can you imagine the implications a crude technique like this could have in rural African life where people often walk several miles to charge a phone or for students who have no electricity to do their homework at night?

via:  Core77