Electronic Waste Produces Algae for Biofuel

Discovery.com
Wed May 12, 2010 04:53 AM ET
Content provided by Aniqa Hasan

A different way to recycle old computers

The Gist

• Old computer parts serve as a reservoir to cultivate algae.
• The algae can be used to make biodiesel.
• If just 6.5 percent of Americans had one, we could replace petroleum with biodiesel.

When you think of recycling electronics, no doubt you imagine the old PC or mobile phone being disassembled, and it’s metal and plastic parts melted down to be repurposed. But for some people, it means reusing the parts to grow algae.

Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created Bio-Grow, a device made from various computer parts that serves as a reservoir to cultivate algae.

The algae can then be used in biodiesel production, which could potentially replace petroleum in the future.

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Charge an iPod With Vodka? Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Launches 1st Direct Ethanol Product

MarketWatch.com (The Wall Street Journal)
Last update: 2:05 p.m. EDT Aug. 19, 2008

SHANGHAI, China, Aug 19, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies today launched the fuel cell industry's first direct ethanol product, the Bio Energy Diversity Kit, which uses tiny amounts of alcohol and water as its fuel. The product marks another step in Horizon's commercialization of fuel cells in portable electronics.

The Bio Energy Discovery Kit is a simple educational product used to introduce fuel cell technology to students, aspiring scientists, teachers and engineers. The kit features a fuel cell powered desktop fan that uses a 90-percent water, 10-percent ethanol mix as the source fuel for transforming an electrochemical reaction into electrical energy.

"Many new ideas will come from the market once this technology can be experimented with," said Taras Wankewycz, co-founder and vice president, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. "The development and commercialization of the world's first direct ethanol fuel cell is an exciting milestone for us but is also just a single step in our continuing goal to bring ever more powerful fuel cell energy solutions to the masses."

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