Damaged tomatoes could provide electricity

Damaged tomatoes could provide electricity, in fact, if the waste from tomatoes produced in Florida could be harnessed, it would enough energy to power Disney World for 90 days.

A team of researchers led by professor Venkataramana Gadhamshetty, had found that damaged tomatoes left over from harvest could  be a powerful source of energy when used in a microbial electrochemical cell. The team, had so far, been able to turn 10 milligrams of tomato waste into 0.3 watts of electricity, a modest start they hoped to improve upon with additional research.

According to initial study results tomatoes could be a viable energy source within microbial fuel cells. The study was published in the Journal of Power Sources in 2014. The scientists would report this week on their ongoing efforts to identify ways to optimise the fuel cell to increase electrical output at the 251st American Chemical Society this week.

Tomatoes that do not make it to the market or in a ketchup bottle end up as a massive amount of environmental waste. According to Alex Fogg, an undergraduate chemistry student at Princeton, in Florida, nearly 400,000 tons-or as much as 40 per cent of tomatoes produced - are tossed out each year.

To produce electricity, researchers put tomato waste in a cell with specialised bacteria, capable of breaking down the tomatoes. In the interaction between microbes and tomato waste, the tomatoes are oxidised releasing electrons, which then get trapped in an electrochemical cell, almost like a battery.

An additional benefit of keeping tomatoes from ending up in landfills it that it keeps the tomato waste from leeching into local water supplies and also prevents the tomatoes from breaking down into methane (a greenhouse gas).