Eco Factor: Process developed to harvest raw electricity from algae.
Harvesting biofuel from algae isn’t a new concept and that biofuel can also be used to generate electricity via a variety of systems. However, a team of researchers from Korea and California have for the first time developed a process that allows them to harvest raw electricity directly from algae.
Using the most studied form of algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, as a test subject, these researchers applied a tiny current known as overvoltage. This tiny current shocks the cells into motion. If algae are shocked while being exposed to sunlight, they produce current that can be extracted from the colony and put to use.
However, at the present stage the process isn’t very efficient in generating electricity. The power produced from a rather large colony of algae isn’t anywhere near to the requirements of even a portable electronic device. At present, to get a single amp of current one would need trillions of cells and shocking them with overvoltage would require energy, which would be almost the same as the energy they’ll end up producing.
Though the research didn’t end up producing excess energy, the future prospects seem bright. The fact that the team was able to coax the algae into giving electric current is fairly remarkable and could open doors for further study into how electrons can be siphoned sustainably.
Via: Popsci/Discovery News
