Do you believe it? Tomatoes can turn into electricity

Broken or deep-fried tomatoes, or tomato and tomato seeds left over when producing ketchup will be discharged into landfills and will create dangerous methane gas .

Tomato throwing festival in Spain.

A group of researchers at the South Dakota Geological and Technological School found a way to deal with discarded tomato products, turning it into a very useful thing: electricity.

So how can tomatoes become electricity?

Researchers have developed a special type of bacterial cell to turn tomato waste into electricity. This cell takes advantage of bacteria to neutralize organic matter in tomato waste, and oxidizes waste and creates an electric charge . This process will also clean up the waste so that tomatoes do not release greenhouse gases.

This study was first used only for wastewater treatment and renewable energy sources. But when combining both effects together, this process will bring many benefits to large agricultural communities like Immokalee, where the largest amount of tomato is released in Florida.

Special bacterial cells can turn tomatoes into electricity.

Alexander Fogg, the founder of the project, said: " I hope this innovation can be used in remote areas, because there are many agricultural wastes. "

This study was directed by Namita Shrestha with other scientists under Professor Venkataramana Gadhamshetty. The whole process will take several weeks to complete, and the power from the tomato will run out in 10 to 14 days.

It seems that this is a very expensive recycling process, but the electricity generated from agricultural waste from this study is very cost-effective. This process will probably be used in large cities when it is often the responsibility of handling agricultural waste.

This study may work with other types of leftovers, but researchers believe tomatoes contain some micronutrients that make the process easier.

Turning tomato waste into electricity reduces the majority of dangerous methane emissions into the environment.

400,000 tons of excess tomatoes annually can generate enough electricity for a Disney World park in 90 days. Currently, the research team has only generated 0.3W of current for every 10mg of tomato waste. But they will quickly improve the design and industrialization of this research.

Turning agricultural food waste into electrical energy will never be as effective as wind or solar energy. But by solving two problems at the same time, this technology has the potential to grow in the next decade.

The waste of this process will still be tomato, still a tangle of red solid liquids that have been fundamentally changed . The chemicals contained in tomato waste have been disabled, which means that they will no longer leak into greenhouse gases .