Researchers in Australia, who tried to make use of surpluses from the country's banana crop, discovered that they could be used as fuel for a power plant
Most of Australia's banana crop is not sold because the fruit is too small or damaged. Recently, researchers have proposed trying to make commercial use of wasted bananas for energy production. If the researchers' vision comes to fruition, a power plant operated by "banana energy" alone and capable of supplying electricity to 500 homes will be operated in the country.
Bill Clark, an engineering lecturer at the University of Queensland, says he thought of the idea following an inquiry from the Banana Growers Council in the state of Queensland in Australia. The council asked him to help it find a use for the mountains of bananas that the farmers are unable to sell, a crop of more than 20 tons a year, a third of the banana production of the state of Queensland.
Clark, who began to test the potential of bananas as a fuel to produce electricity in the laboratory, placed them in containers where they rotted. He then used the methane gas, a byproduct of their decomposition, to provide energy for an electric turbine. Despite the success of the experiment, says Clark, it is still unclear whether the technology will be able to be applied in a way that will be profitable.
One of the main disadvantages of the method is the large amount of bananas required to produce the energy. Clark says it takes 60 kg of bananas to power a small heater for 30 hours.
