Researchers have developed an innovative method to convert common wood waste into a new, advanced fuel source.
German scientists are recently making progress in finding ways to turn wood waste into something useful by converting it into clean hydrogen energy, as per Tech Xplore.
The researchers are concentrating on the Black Forest region in Germany, which is home to many furniture and wood processing companies.
Their project, called H2Wood-BlackForest started 4 years ago. They have created a process that breaks wood down into its individual parts and then reuses those parts for new purposes.
To break down the wood, it is first heated under pressure in a mixture of ethanol and water, which removes contaminants and extracts natural fibers and sugar.
These sugars are then used as food for bacteria in a fermentation process that produces hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide is then used to fuel another fermentation process that grows microalgae, which produces even more hydrogen.
Reports suggest that hydrogen produced is a powerful energy carrier and when it is combined with oxygen, it can power a fuel cell that generates heat or electricity with the only byproduct being water vapour.
The researchers have shown that wood, which is usually thrown away or burned can be used effectively with this method.
Additionally, the byproducts from the two fermentation processes can be recycled in industries like car manufacturing.
