Bio-energy project at the university of Wageningen (NL)

The scientist on the university of Wageningen work on a project called Plant-e. Plant-e is a company that develops and produces products in which living plants generate electricity. The company was founded on September 14, 2009 as a spin-off from the sub-department of Environmental Technology of Wageningen University by David Strik and Marjolein Helder.

How do you make Plant-energie?
Technology
Plant-e develops products in which living plants generate electricity. These products are based on technology that was developed at Wageningen University, which was patented in 2007. The patent is now held by Plant-e. The technology enables us to produce electricity from living plants at practically every site where plants can grow and is based on natural processes and that does not harm the plant or its environment.
Via photosynthesis a plant produces organic matter. Part of this organic matter is used for plant-growth, but a large part can’t be used by the plant and is excreted into the soil via the roots. Around the roots naturally occuring micro-organisms break down the organic compounds to gain energy from. In this process, electrons are released as a waste product. By providing an electrode for the micro-organisms to donate their electrons to, the electrons can be harvested as electricity. Research has shown that plant-growth isn’t compromised by harvesting electricity, so plants keep on growing while electricity is concurrently produced.















The plant microbial fuel cell (Plant-MFC) is an attractive technology producing electricity. We call this electricity PlantPower. Within the Plant-MFC, plants provide in situ rhizodeposits to bacteria that generate electricity in the fuel cell. The Plant-MFC technology can for example be implemented in wetlands, turning them into natural large scale electricity providers. Since 2009, an European multidisciplinary consortium of universities, research institutes and innovative companies is exploring the Plant-MFC technology. This public symposium will reveal exciting discoveries and technological breakthroughs made during the last 4 years of this project.

Interview

We arranged an interview with a professor at the university. He explained us everything we need to know about extracting energy out of plants. It was held in a very high-qualified building where you could not go in without passes. The answers to our questions are written trough the blog.

Sources:
http://www.wageningenur.nl/nl/show/Planten-maken-stroom.htm
http://www.plant-e.com/