Turning rotten tomatoes, waste fruit into biogas
Rotting tomatoes, brown bananas and overripe cherries -- the waste from wholesale marts usually ends on the compost heap. But fermenting this food waste produces methane, also known as biogas, which can be compressed into high-pressure cylinders and used as fuel for vehicles, according to new research.
Natural gas is kinder on the wallet, but it is also a fossil fuel. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB), Germany, have now developed an alternative from fruit and vegetable waste generated by wholesale markets.
In early 2012, researchers will begin operating a pilot plant adjacent to Stuttgart's wholesale market. It will use various micro organisms to generate sought-after methane from food waste in a two-stage digestion process that lasts just a few days.
"The waste contains a lot of water and has a very low lignocellulose content, so it's highly suitable for rapid fermentation," said Ing. Ursula SchlieBmann, head of department at IGB, according to a university statement.
But it still presents a challenge because its precise composition varies every day. Sometimes it has a high proportion of citrus fruits, while at other times there are more cherries, plums and lettuce.
On days with a higher citrus fruit content, the researchers have to adjust the pH value through substrate management because these fruits are very acidic.
"We hold the waste in several storage tanks, where a number of parameters are automatically calculated -- including the pH value," said SchlieBmann.
"An indicator for acidity or alkalinity is known as the pH value. A pH value of seven means a substance is neutral. The lower value indicates acidity, and a higher value is a sign of alkalinity," SchlieBmann said.
"The specially designed management system determines exactly how many litres of waste from which containers should be mixed together and fed to the micro organisms," explained SchlieBmann.
Another advantage of the new plant lies in the fact that absolutely everything it generates can be utilised - the biogas, the liquid filtrate and even the sludgy residue that cannot be broken down any further.
Comments
More Pakistan News
RSS-
Students grind it out under poor infrastructure in Kashmir
A crumbling building, absent school benches and blackboards coupled with frequent power cuts is being offered to school students, of a remote area in Rajouri district of Kashmir, who are keen to get basic education for a better future. The state authorities have failed to provide adequate staff, burdening the teachers who have no choice but to teach multiple subjects to large groups of ...
-
China ready to act as arbiter in Kashmir dispute
The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan has said that China is ready to act as an arbiter in Kashmir dispute but any such arrangement is subject to India's consent. Envoy Liu Jian affirmed that the India and Pakistan could see rapprochement over Kashmir issue through China, reports The Nation. Jian, at a farewell reception, said that Pakistan and China would sign a wide range of trade and economy ...
-
Pakistani toll in Siachen avalanche rises to 128
The death toll in an avalanche in the Siachen glacier region last year has risen to 128, following the recovery of three more bodies, the Pakistani military said. The bodies of three soldiers were recovered from Gayari sector of Siachen Saturday, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. On April 7, 2012, at least 140 soldiers of the 6 Northern Light Infantry Battalion and a few civilians ...
-
Sarabjit death probe Pakistani official may visit India
A one-man inquiry tribunal comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi of Lahore High Court may visit India to complete the judicial inquiry into the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, a media report said. Sarabjit Singh, an Indian on death row in Pakistan, died May 2 after a group of Pakistani prisoners attacked him April 26 Kot Lakhpat Jail. Sarabjit was on death row since 1990 ...
-
Legislation necessary to curb religious discrimination ensure minority rights in Pak
Religious discrimination and acts like forced conversion of Hindu girls in Pakistan should be declared as crimes against humanity and legal action should be taken to curb it, speakers at a consultation on minority rights have said. The speakers who attended the ceremony on 'Religious Minority and Human Rights: Democratic Process and New Opportunities', underlined the need for formulation of ...
-
Pakistani man lynched over prostitution
A man was lynched to death and two others, including an alleged prostitute, were injured after they were caught in an "objectionable" condition in a house near the Pakistani capital, a media report said Sunday. The incident took place in Golra on the outskirts of Islamabad Saturday, Dawn News reported. Police said the man hired the services of a sex worker and brought her to a friend's ...
-
Pakistani woman politician shot dead
A senior woman politician in Pakistan's port city of Karachi was gunned down by motorcycle-riding assailants outside her residence late Saturday, a media report said Sunday. Zahra Shahid Hussain, vice president in Sindh province of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was killed in an attempted robbery on the eve of re-polls in Karachi's NA-250 constituency, ...
-
Paks MQM demands high-level judicial inquiry into PTI leaders murder
Pakistan's Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has demanded that a high level judicial inquiry be conducted into the events surrounding the murder of senior vice president in Sindh of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Karachi. MQM deputy convener Farooq Sattar, while speaking at an emergency press conference, extended their party chief's condolence and condemnation message to the family of Zahra ...
-
Sharif-Kayani meeting is good for Pakistan paper
A Pakistani newspaper Sunday lauded army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for breaking convention and calling on incoming Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "The meeting augurs well for a smooth and trouble-free transition within the country keeping the larger national security interests in view," The News International said in an editorial. The daily described Kayani's gesture to call on Sharif ...
-
Britain funding surveys in Pakistan on US drone attacks
Britain has been funding surveys in Pakistan's Tribal Areas which reveal that US drone strikes in the region are causing deep resentment among the local population. Foreign Minister, Alistair Burt, confirmed that the Foreign Office had "supported" surveys which showed the proportion of respondents in the tribal areas who believed drone strikes were "never justified" had risen from 59 percent in ...
-
Kayani throws weight behind Nawaz Sharif ahead of govt. transition
Pakistan Army Chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has met Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and expected prime minister for the next parliamentary tenure Nawaz Sharif at his residence, and exchanged views on internal and external security issues confronting the country. According to PML-N sources, Kayani held a three-and-a-half-hour-long discussion with Sharif and both discussed ...
-
Musharraf should leave Pak before elected govt. takes charge PML-N tells Kayani
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which is set to lead the government at the Centre, has reportedly told Army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani that Pervez Musharraf should leave Pakistan before the elected government takes charge from the caretakers. The PML-N, which has reportedly pardoned the former president under the pressure of international guarantors now desires that Musharraf should ...
-
Pakistan army will be watching Sharifs cozying up to India
Nawaz Sharif, incoming prime minister and leader of political party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), smiles as he talks to journalists after visiting Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician and chairman of political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), outside the Shaukat Khanum hospital in Lahore May 14, ...
-
First Pakistani woman atop Everest
Mirza Ali , who becomes the third and youngest Pakistani male to scale the mountain. Nepal mountaineering department official Tilak Padney said 35 foreigners accompanied by 29 Nepalese Sherpa guides reached the peak after climbing all night from the highest camp on South Col - the pass between Everest and a neighbouring ...
-
Imran Khan blames rival Pakistan party leader for killing of activist
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, on Sunday blamed the killing of a political activist on the eve of a partial rerun of voting in Karachi on Altaf Hussain, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader, who runs his party from exile in London.Zahra Shahid, the vice-president of Khan's PTI party in the southern province of Sindh, was gunned down outside her home in the upmarket Defence area of ...
-
Pakistan holds repeat poll despite killing of politician
KARACHI -- Under tight security, Pakistani officials Sunday held a repeat election in a district of violence-plagued Karachi, despite the killing of a senior politician in the city the day ...
-
Senior member of Imran Khans Tehreek-e-Insaf party assassinated as row over Pakistan election vote rigging continues
Police officer Sarfaraz Nawaz says Zohra Shahid was gunned down outside her home in the city of Karachi in southern Sindh province. She was the vice president of former Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in Sindh.No one has claimed responsibility for the killing.Mr Khan's party has claimed it was the victim of vote rigging in several areas of Pakistan, ...
-
Funeral Held for Slain Pakistani Politician
Zahra Shahid Hussain was killed late Saturday after being approached by two unknown gunmen outside her home in Karachi. Pakistani politician and former cricket star Imran Khan, leader of Pakistan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, blamed Saturday's slaying of Zahra Shahid Hussain on the rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement party, or MQM. The party has denied any ...
-
Color nostalgic scenes make Pakistans trucks rolling works of art
Pakistan -- Here, trucks rule the road. Whether by blaring their horns at pedestrians or blocking a narrow street with an awkward parking job, Karachi's trucks always get the right of way. But aside from being a nuisance to already harassed drivers, the trucks add a welcome splash of color to a remarkably bleak city. The images they bear, often whimsical, adorn every possible surface of ...
-
Assassination Shakes New Round of Voting in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ...
-
Karachi Holds Repeat Vote Despite Killing
Voters in Pakistan's port city of Karachi have cast ballots in a partial rerun of the country's general election. The May 19 vote in the constituency known as NA-250 was held amid tight security, after a senior woman politician from Imran Khan's party was killed on the eve of the fresh voting. There was no official estimate of voter turnout. Khan's Pakistan Movement ...
-
Gunmen Kill Khans Senior Official Ahead of Pakistan Recount
was shot dead on Saturday outside the gates of her home in Karachi, Pakistan, hours before several re-elections were scheduled to take place in the country on ...
News from around our Network
Comments
No comments yet for this story
Have your say