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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Researchers turn brewery wastewater into energy storage cells BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Scientists in Colorado have found a way to make brewers and battery makers allies in the quest for energy efficiency. Brewing beer is a water-intensive process. For every barrel of beer, brewers use roughly seven barrels of water. "And they can't just dump it into the sewer because it requires extra filtration," Tyler Huggins, a graduate student at the University of Colorado, explained in a news release. Treating all that water is expensive. Unless, of course, you can get someone else to pay for the treatment. In this case, that someone else is the battery industry. It turns out, brewery wastewater is an ideal place to grow the biomass-producing fungi. Innovative battery makers have found a variety of ways to convert biological materials into carbon-based electrodes used for energy storage, but finding efficient sources of biomass hasn't been easy. The fast-growing fungus species Neurospora crassa promises to solve that problem. Many fungi naturally incorporate metals and minerals into unique composite materials with electrochemical properties. Scientists found they could better control the growth conditions and resulting electrochemical properties when Neurospora crassa was cultivated in brewery wastewater. "The wastewater is ideal for our fungus to flourish in, so we are happy to take it," said Huggins. The result was one of the most efficient naturally-derived lithium-ion battery electrodes ever produced. The fungus-growing process also naturally cleans the wastewater. "The novelty of our process is changing the manufacturing process from top-down to bottom-up," added Zhiyong Jason Ren, an associate professor in CU Boulder's department of civil, environmental and architectural engineering. "We're biodesigning the materials right from the start." Researchers described their breakthrough in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces. The study's authors say it won't be long before Colorado's brewing and battery industries are teaming up to save money and energy. "We see large potential for scaling because there's nothing required in this process that isn't already available," said Huggins. Like Us on Facebook for more stories from UPI.com Related UPI Stories Electricity generated with water, salt and an ultra thin membrane Chemists watch the insides of batteries in 3D Longer-lasting silicon-air battery breaks 1,000-hour ceiling Stanford scientists build battery that won't overheat Poster Comment: Found this clever, but don't know why, also funny. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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