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Foster's Beer and Scientists Team-Up to Make Clean Energy

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posted on May, 2 2007 @ 06:30 PM
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Australia—Scientists and Australian beer maker Foster's are teaming up to generate clean energy from brewery waste water—by using sugar-consuming bacteria.

The experimental technology was unveiled Wednesday by scientists at Australia's University of Queensland, which was given a $115,000 state government grant to install a microbial fuel cell at a Foster's Group brewery near Brisbane, the capital of Queensland state.

The fuel cell is essentially a battery in which bacteria consume water-soluble brewing waste such as sugar, starch and alcohol.
The battery produces electricity plus clean water, said Prof. Jurg Keller, the university's wastewater expert.

The complex technology harnesses the chemical energy that the bacteria releases from the organic material, converting it into electrical energy.
The 660-gallon fuel cell will be 250 times bigger than a prototype that has been operating at the university laboratory for three months, Keller said.

He expected the brewery cell would produce 2 kilowatts of power—enough to power a household—and the technology would eventually be applied in other breweries and wineries owned by Foster's. The cell should be operating at the brewery by September.


SOURCE:
LiveScience.com


This is very cool, and honestly unexpected, beer production has been
one of the few industries that has been around for a long time that is
still in full force, the fact that the after-products can produce clean
energy is very cool indeed.


Comments, Opinions?

[edit on 5/2/2007 by iori_komei]



posted on May, 2 2007 @ 07:04 PM
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this sounds really cool but it seems alternative energy never really gets the push it deserves/needs i mean they are out there but not nearly as widespread or available as it should be...hope this can be of some use



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 12:03 AM
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Ah, every household should have a brewery then, you get free beer and free electricity, if the brewery is large enough to provide power to your household.



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 12:45 AM
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Lets hope this does nothing to reduce the amount of avalible Vegimite. There would be riots in the streets I tell ya!

But on a serious side, its great to see that industry is at least trying to do apart here. yes I know its motivated by the bottom line, but its something




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