A licensing deal has been signed between the Purdue Research Foundation and an international energy firm for the commercialization of a novel technique developed at Purdue University Northwest. Food waste is used in the novel technique to biologically create hydrogen, which may then be used as a sustainable energy source.
The technique, according to PNW, may be utilized to generate power, as well as chemical and industrial operations, and as a transportation fuel. A second license arrangement with an Indiana business is now being negotiated.
According to Robert Kramer, a PNW professor of physics and the study’s primary investigator, the United States wastes more than 30% of all food each year.
“The new technique can be applied rapidly and has a high output rate,” Kramer stated. For local energy production and processing, the method is resilient, dependable, and economically feasible.”
Over the previous eight years, the research team has won five grants totaling nearly $800,000 from the US Department of Energy and the Purdue Research Foundation, according to the university. In addition, the procedure has been granted two patents, with a third patent pending clearance.
A scale-up test will be done over the following nine months, according to PNW. Construction on the first commercial prototype is expected to begin within a year, according to the university.
