Banana Power | Green Energy News

May 30, 2004 – Vol.9 No.10

BANANA POWER.

Bananas which are green on the supermarket shelves ripen quickly to yellow then to yellow-spotted and soon to bruised and worthless. Bananas ripen, then rot, very quickly once harvested. Decaying bananas in the kitchen are a minor problem compared with the shipping and handling problem distributors have with the popular fruit. Tree to supermarket shelf must be very, very fast ... and gentle.

Yet because bananas ripen so rapidly they quickly begin to produce methane, which is of course, a renewable fuel and a greenhouse gas.

In an attempt to find a use for rotting bananas, the Australian government has funded a study for the Australian Banana Growers Council that shows how old bananas can be a viable source of energy. The report recommends using a pinch of bacteria to further speed the decay of bananas in a digester for even faster methane production. Methane then would be piped into a gas turbine generator to make electricity. (A Stirling engine generator set could also be used, presumably.)

The report is not yet available at the ABGC website, but it could be in the future, or send them a note. Visit the ABGC at http://www.abgc.org.au/ .