Indian-Origin Engineer Discovers New Green Power Source

An Indian-origin engineer and his team from Concordia University have created a technology to harness the electrical energy from blue-green algae.

Both photosynthesis and respiration of plants promote electron transfer chains that can be used to produce green energy. Researchers from Concordia University that led to new technique explained that during photosynthesis algae naturally generates electrons which can later be captured and stored in batteries to generate electricity.

Muthukumaran Packirisamy, who did his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, is now posted as a faculty member in the department of Mechanical Engineering at Concordia University, Montreal.

Why the plants? Because the energy is already there.

As issues of climate change become a world forum topic recently, questions arise as to where we can take renewable energy that is cost-effective and environment-friendly.

And such algae are everywhere, making them a sound, sustainable option.

He, along with his team, has developed a Micro Photosynthetic Power Cell (μPSC) that uses the photosynthesis and respiration processes of the blue-green algae to harness electrical energy.

A scientist from the Concordia University in Montreal has designed a power cell that uses blue-green algae. The process of photosynthesis and respiration is both utilized to promote electron transfer chains that can be used to produce clean, green energy.

The process was published in the journal Technology; scientists entrapped the electrons released by blue-green algae during photosynthesis and respiration. Thus naturally produced electrical energy from the plant is harnessed.

Algae produced electrons during the process of photosynthesis, and when metal probes are stuck in the plant, energy is captured and is transferred into electricity for batteries.

Algae naturally create electrons during photosynthesis, and metal probes stuck into the plant can capture that energy and transfer it into electricity for batteries, he said on Wednesday.

Muthukumaran Packirisamy, a professor of engineering at the Concordia University said that by taking advantage of this process that is happening all over the world, a new and cheaper way to generate carbon-free energy has been discovered.

The new technology has immense potential to be used in future and will also reduce greenhouse emission.

However, it will some time before this energy can be produced for mass consumption. Packirisamy told Thomson Reuters Foundation that the technology will be perfected to power a Smartphone in five years. It will take another decade before it could take the place of solar energy.

Packirisamy added that photovoltaic cells were hazardous since it relies on crystalline silicon and other elements while algae are more environment-friendly since it will be using a fewer hazardous material in construction.
Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Posted by PHARMA WISDOM