Beer Battery

A beer battery is one of the new innovations in power generation that makes use of bacteria that consume sugar and brewery water waste to produce electricity. Beer battery is also called Microbial Fuel Cell or MFC. The bacteria used actually break down the sugar, alcohol and starch content of the waste water to produce the electricity. The process has carbon dioxide and water by-products. Moreover, brewery waste water is biodegradable. Thus, it is very earth-friendly. The beer battery is also a renewable resource.

How a Beer Battery Generates Electricity

The beer battery or the Microbial Fuel Cell generates electricity by converting the chemical energy present in bio-convertible substrates. The bacteria in this chemical reaction act as a catalyst that breaks down organic matter into usable energy.

The beer battery microbial fuel cell makes use of a cathode and an anode separated by a thin membrane that is Cation specific. The fuel is oxidized by the bacteria in the anode part, which generates protons and electrons. The electrons produced are transferred into the cathode through an external circuit while the protons are transferred via the membrane. These electrons are protons are then combined within the cathode and later combined with oxygen to form clean water.

Waste Water Treatment

Beer battery however, is primarily designed as a waste water treatment alternative and not as an alternative source of energy. It is especially important to countries like Australia and others that have limited sources of clean water. The usable by-product which is electricity, however, could spark similar researches in other industries that might be able to generate electricity from waste treatment.

History of Microbial Fuel Cells

The first studies in microbial fuel cells were conducted by M.C. Potter in 1912 when he discovered a way to generate electricity using E Coli. Barnet Cohen in 1931 was able to create a microbial fuel cell capable of generating 35 volts and 2 milliamps of current. MJ Allen, Suzuki, H Peter Benetto continued working on MFCs during the 1980's and have contributed much to a better understanding of Microbial Fuel Cells.

The ongoing microbial fuel cell studies are a result of the research being done among the scientists of Australia's University of Queensland and Foster's Brewery. The research is being funded by a grant from Queensland Government Sustainable Energy Innovation Fund and the Australian Research Council.

Initial experiments used about 10 liters of brewery waste water, but the final target capacity will be able to hold 660 gallons of waste water capable of producing 2 kilowatts of power – enough electricity to power an average house.

In fact, a company in Fort Collins Colorado has already successfully installed and tested a system similar to this. New Belgium Brewery also uses bacteria to clean its waste water and to produce clean water and methane gas as by-products. The methane gas produced is then used to provide 15 percent of the power required for company operations. This translates into about three thousand dollars worth of energy savings a month.