[MP-Ryan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16288107

Employees invited children to drop piece of paper and cardboard into a liquid made up of water and enzymes, and then to shake it. The equipment was connected to a small fan which began spinning a few minutes later.

The process works by using the enzyme cellulase to decompose the materials into glucose sugar. These were then combined with oxygen and further enzymes which turned the material into electrons and hydrogen ions.

The electrons were used by the battery to generate electricity. Water and the acid gluconolactone, which is commonly used in cosmetics, were created as by-products.

Researchers involved in the project likened the mechanism to the one used by white ants and termites to digest wood and turn it into energy.

Suck it, solar, you inefficient wench.  Use waste products to energize productivity?  Yes please.

[headdie]

the article only says using paper and paper based products which is not good for the environment.

[BloodEagle]

the article only says using paper and paper based products which is not good for the environment.

 

[Aardwolf]

The idea isn't that you go cut down a tree to feed this thing, it's that you use waste. Reminds me of Mr. Fusion

[IronBeer]

Cellulose is useful stuff. Bacteria can do some cool things to it.

Summer of '09 I actually worked as an "assistant plant operator" at a pilot-scale fermentation facility using this process. We fed in shredded office paper direct from the University- the bleaching process served as an adequate pre-treatment. A full-on industrial-scale plant in a nearby town uses energy sorghum (+ the stalks) as a cellulose source; course, they have *do* to worry about pre-treatment.

Using a similar process to produce electrochemcial ions is certainly novel, though. Biofuels may still be in the "emerging" phase, but they have a ridiculous amount of potential, both on the practicality and environmental-friendliness scale.

[Klaustrophobia]

but how much can it actually produce?

[MP-Ryan]

but how much can it actually produce?

I've no idea how efficient cellulase is when it comes to glucose production, but the use of glucose to synthesize ATP from ADP, and the subsequent electron loss from ATP -> ADP -> AMP is quite efficient.  A single glucose molecule theoretically can realize up to 38 ATP (I'm relying on math from Wikipedia here, as my biochemistry recall isn't quite *that* good).  Delta G for ATP -> AMP (again according to Wikipedia) is -57 kJ/mol under cellular conditions, so it may be higher in a "pure solution" like this.

Biological systems use enormous amounts of energy.  It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that an enzyme-based piece of technology could power modern devices quite readily.

EDIT:  Holy crap it's been a long time since I suffered through biochemistry; I had forgotten how much this **** makes my head hurt.