26 August 2010
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Wakati nchi masikini tukiwa katika hali ya giza,huko Ujerumani wanasayansi katika chuo cha Heriot-Watt wamegundua njia mbadala wa kuzalisha umeme kutokana na mkojo wa binaadamu. Wakemia Shanwen Tao na Rong Lan waliogundua chanzo hicho wamesema kwamba mkojo wa binaadamu una kemikali za hydrogen na methanol ambazo hupatikana baada ya mwili kusharabu chakula cha protein. Methano na hydrogen ni moja ya vyanzo vizuri vya kuzalisha umeme wa betri. Walifafanua zaidi kwamba nishati hiyo ni nafuu maana haizalishi taka sumu katika mazingira na usafirishaji wake ni rahisi. |
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| URINE- NEW SOURCE FOR ELECTRIC POWER Edinburgh scientists sure know where to look for renewable energy. Recently they figured out a way to make bio fuel from whiskey byproducts, and now a different team is hard at work on what promises to be the world's first urine-powered fuel cells. Chemistry post docs Shanwen Tao and Rong Lan at Heriot-Watt University's School of Engineering and Physical Sciences in Edinburgh are turning pee into electricity and clean water with a prototype fuel cell system. I had heard about pee-power for robots, but not pee-power for everyone. I don't tend to highlight fuel cell tech very often because the process has been so ridiculously expensive and tricky. Fuel cells usually rely on flammable hydrogen gas or toxic methanol to generate electricity, but Tao and Lan's cheaper prototype relies instead on urea, an organic chemical compound produced as waste when the body metabolizes protein. Urea, also called "carbamide," has several advantages as a potential fuel source. It's abundant, non-toxic, relatively straightforward to transport -- when we're not already transporting it, if you know what I mean -- and rich in nitrogen. According to the university, Tao thought about incorporating urea because he had seen it used as a fertilizer while growing up in eastern China. |
