Scientists have invented a way to turn beer into batteries

Chemists at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena have developed a method by which beer waste can be converted into a carbon material with a high energy capacity. The resulting carbon materials serve as electrodes in batteries. The chemists used waste from the Papiermühle brewery in Jena to conduct the «beer experiments».

The researchers developed a method by which they produced carbon materials suitable for storage from beer waste. When carbon is used as an electrode in supercapacitors, these materials guarantee a very high energy capacity, the scientists explained.

«For several years now, we have been investigating the suitability of various biological raw materials for creating carbon-containing materials that we use to create energy storage devices. We have found that the chemical composition of beer waste is suitable for the applications we are targeting. In addition, brewing waste is available in large quantities — for example, in 2019, the European Union produced about 6.8 billion tons, of which 1.5 billion tons were produced in Germany alone. Breweries are distributed throughout the country, making their waste easily accessible, so there is no need to travel long distances to obtain raw materials,» explained Andrea Balducci, professor at the University of Jena.

The researchers plan to use beer waste in other projects to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of the carbon-based material. The scientists publish their experiments on the use of beer waste in the journals Electrochimica Acta and Energy Technology.