London: Sony has developed a battery that can ‘digest’ waste paper and turn it into energy.
In 2007, the company demonstrated a Walkman that used a ‘bio battery’ - an organic battery that generates electricity by ‘digesting’ food, just like humans do.
But the company’s latest development shows off a much more useful product, the Daily Mail reported.
The prototype - on show at Eco-Products 2011 in Tokyo, shows how it could be possible to use enzymes to ‘break down’ waste paper into a fuel we can use. The prototype generates enough energy to power a (very) small fan.
The process is unlike conventional batteries - and initially at least, much more like the action of a digestive system.
A digestive enzyme, cellulase, ‘breaks down’ the cellulose in paper into glucose, a sugar that Sony’s ‘bio batteries’ can use as fuel.
ANI
First Published: Tuesday, December 20, 2011, 15:25