Sony’s bio battery is based on the same principles used by insects
and herbivores to turn cellulose into energy. Energy is stored in plant
matter as a result of photosynthesis and subsequently used for the
plant’s growth. When insects and animals chew away at wood and grasses
they begin the process of turning the plant tissue into energy, breaking
down the raw material into glucose as a result of digestion.
Bugs and grazing animals digest the cellulose in plants and wood
using enzymes that turn it into sugar which is the raw material for
energy. Sony is using this basic principle in its bio battery. Via a
complex process using cellulase, the enzyme that helps reduce cellulose
to glucose, Sony’s technique releases the energy stored as sugar in
waste paper and cardboards so that it can be used to generate
electricity.
The process involves mixing shredded paper and board with a mixture
of cellulase enzymes and water. After a while the enymes break down the
paper and board, releasing glucose into the water. This water is then
added to the Sony bio battery which can be used to power an electrical
device. Sony has been working on its technique for turning cellulose
into glucose for several years and has demonstrated a prototype bio
battery. The batteries are about two cubic centimetres is size and four
would be needed to power an MP3 player.
It is early days yet but
relative to its mass, Sony reckons that paper is a potentially high
density power source: a single A4 sheet can output the same amount of
energy as six AA batteries. Sony is working on making their bio battery
even better to the point where they hope to ‘create highly efficient
batteries that turn all kinds of waste paper around us into sources of
electricity’. The longer-term goal for Sony’s bio battery R&D team
is to further enhance performance and to ultimately develop batteries
suitable for notebook computers and other mobile devices.
This is quite wonderful stuff and another reason to promote and celebrate print’s sustainability.
www.verdigris.com
The Verdigris supporters who make it possible include: Agfa Graphics (www.agfa.com), Digital Dots (www.digitaldots.org), drupa (www.drupa.com), EFI (www.efi.com), Fespa (www.fespa.com), Heidelberg (www.uk.heidelberg.com), HP (www.hp.com), Kodak (www.kodak.com/go/sustainability), Pragati Offset (www.pragati.com), Ricoh (www.ricoh.com), Splash PR (www.splashpr.co.uk), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).
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