Burning bananas

Could banana skins be a fuel of the future for people in Africa? Here's one researcher's quest to find out. More science videos like this at www.test-tube.o...

[@Gizmo13757]

He's cooking bananas with bananas. That's bananas!

[@Drakwdeanrer]

+Roudee 2/10 Not enough bananas. We need to go deeper: cooking bananas with bananas on a stove made from bananas! :D

[@hydradbz456]

@@Drakwdeanrer and the stove is located, you guessed it, in a kitchen made entirely out of bananas

[@nottinghamscience]

Churning and pressing can be done by hand and drying by the sun. Joel only uses the oven to save time and the autoamatic press because he needs consistent briquettes for his scientific testing. It's early days though.

[@erictaylor5462]

I really hope somebody got this kid an electric grinder.

[@JDeffenb]

Imagine writing a 300 page thesis on bananas... he's gone bannanas

[@Aquelanter]

It's a good idea because if you use banana peels -that are produced as a biproduct in everyday cooking- as fuel instead of wood, you don't have to spend hours everyday collecting wood from the remote forests. It's resource effective and will also reduce deforestation.

[@eazmjc]

We used a traditional African mortice and pestle today. It was hard work, but quite theraputic! We need to work out how long to let the banana skins rot down to get the best consistency. Mixing with some sawdust or other dry material (leaves, etc) makes a good briquette.

[@madhur1002]

Really impressed with you conviction and passion to contribute...you didnt mind getting the hands dirty :).... Though emission (gases) and heat obtained is important for future commercial use...another factor being banana skins used as fuel are now not used as soil's natural fertilizer...but despite all, I admire your zeal to get things done (and eat out with energy you prepared by own)

[@oldcowbb]

nothing to do with singing banana?

[@ParkerUAS]

I'd be interested to see a follow up video to this that shows the BTU output of this compared to common fuels such as wood, coal, charcoal, LPG, etc.

[@HexJamXXX]

Quite curious to see one of the briquettes made with added sawdust and to see how it burns compared to the 100% skin type

[@jimm3205]

He's like what, 20 years old and all outta breath cranking banana peels thru a grinder?

[@nottinghamscience]

@Digadogup: They would be sun-dried.... An oven is used in the lab just for speed (and because there is much less sun in England than Africa!)

[@samfortunato]

this is so awesome. i love it when people think of cheap and non wasteful ways to solve problems like this... recycling/resourcefulness is great! try not to waste anything!

[@melj.40]

Kudos for getting the knowledge out there. Nice work! Keep going!!

[@xXx-un3ie]

his hands are so dirty all the time even when he cooks the bananas

[@hazzamo]

@Nannarii No, it would be more-or-less the same process used to produce regular charcoal; but with coconut shells substituted for wood.

[@eazmjc]

yeah, I agree. it was a bit of a rush filming it. we used lots of briquettes to make sure that the fire lasted during the filming (too many briquettes really)

[@Binkophile]

The ash left from burning can be returned to the soil. The process of combustion only turns the cellulose and lignin to gases, the minerals etc still remain in the ash. An important thing to rmember is that almost all of a plant is made of air. Only trace elements in soil are used by the plant

[@eazmjc]

@helenchg It's a bit like making a cake - use whatever you have available. We used sawdust, but dry banana leaves would work, or any other dry combustable material. The key is to get a mixture that can be squished together without being too wet or too dry.

[@sedwarg]

excellent research. more unis should show the research they're doing in this way. it's really interesting and kind of motivating

[@eazmjc]

yes, in kenya we use the sun to dry the briquettes, but for the research in the UK we needed to use an oven to produce briquettes with repeatable properties for our tests

[@OOZ662]

@kickidii The same way, minus the compression machine. Putting things through a meatgrinder isn't all that hard. Throw in some stems, compress it by hand, and let it sit in the sun. The complication here is simply scientific like he said to see how they burn and what changes to techniques and ratios can be done to make them more efficient.

[@AlmightScoop]

What a fantastic research project. I hope something comes of this.

[@ragnkja]

The by-products of burning the briquettes are the same as the ones which would be released as the banana waste was rotting.

[@tom220289]

this is amazing, this guy has just helped so many people in need out

[@thibeault]

He also said that they'd normally use other parts of the banana plant, such as the stems, but since he didn't have any, he used sawdust. Also, he demonstrated briquettes made without sawdust.

[@appa609]

What he doesn't mention is that the "rotting waste“ is an important agent of fertilization for the soil it rots onto. If they grew bananas, and didn't let the rinds decompose on that soil, the soil nutrients would quickly deplete. Then, you need nitrogen-based fertilizers, and all the problems that can cause.

[@lukasmorkunas9356]

Where can i find more information on this, the compositions of the banana peels, etc?

[@puppaeythings9028]

in science class

[@3rdeye7thdimension]

@kal9001 This research is more of a time-saver and physical waste reducer. People are already spending half the day trying to warm their homes with firewood, burning it just like they would with the b-bricks. They also do not use the banana skins. Killing two birds with one stone, you're saving time and land space by reusing waste. the CO2 emission is miniscule compared to fossil fuel and industrial waste, and would be no different than normal wood burning.

[@ro0bear]

Solar Cookers use reflective material to focus the suns rays on an area where you can cook food. It doesnt use Solar Panels.

[@Toastmaster_5000]

@kal9001 the process of decomposition would still produce a large amount of co2, and just fill up our landfills. sure you can use them for compost, but its a lot better to use garbage as fuel. you can take anything dead or even fecal matter and use that for compost

[@ManSeekingChrist]

IF the guy in the video gets this, maybe he should check out South America too. If they would save time on finding firewood by using banana peels, that would help them alot. In Peru wen I went there, the guy told me all they eat is plantains, fish, and yucca...

[@astrokicked]

Due to the size and density of the simple dried banana skin you would get pretty much a very low coefficient of "good" work. So most of the energy you'd waste to ignite the dried banana would be to ignite the banana. The point of the banana skin pureeXsawdust is - using the minimal amount of heat(fire) to ignite and use for a long period of time this organic "firewood". I'm sure they checked this out and found out that you'd get more heat and power from burning that pressurised sawdustXbanana

[@virus256]

Its a good idea, but I cant help seeing some problems here... 1: If you mix it with sawdust, you still need wood. 2: Why do you need to have them in a owen? They then need to have owen or some sort of fire to make them dry... In the sun maybee, but it takes a long time. 3: How long do they burn? And by the way, its not impressive to get the plate hot over flames... Anyway, good idea, keep em comming.

[@eleanorerigby]

So what kind of fuel would you need to bake the briquettes with? Could you bake enough that this would be efficient? This is a really exciting prospect, great post!

[@amireeti]

@jordanpasek Correction. I did not complain. Like others, I responded to the video pointing out practical problems should the project be applied mass scale. People living in the "Developed world " feel they know more about solving other peoples' problems instead of their own. Water is vital for people in such countries. Growing food crops as fuel is NOT one happy solution especially if the crop plants depend on irrigation to make adequate bananas to make bricks!

[@mectechman1]

You are on to something very usefull here! Couldn't stop thinking of another benevolent proj. that never really went operational for everyday users (but was fairly close). It was called "the rice husk projekt" in Bangladesh involving a 5hp Stirling engine run on burning rice husks. It's all in a publication/book (ISBN 0-9713918-1-5" written by L. Merrick Lockwood. Banana peels instead of husks is probably a good change of energy source, and locally available. Congrats to u on your work. /mtm

[@lacerda6500]

great job, im making some here to test myself

[@xja85mac]

Very interesting project! It would be interesting to burn a sample of that into a calorimeter, in order to actually see how much energy you can obtain from that.

[@ffmikha]

Very interesting, I'm curious to see how it compares to other materials. @honalululy You probably haven't noticed, but the ones he's using to cook don't have sawdust in them. @helenchg I think he uses sawdust (as a substitute to something available in Africa) so it can shape up more nicely. @C18Gold You sir are the very reason scientists keep to themselves. Let's see you crush those peels with that grinder and trying to explain whatever you are doing at the same time.

[@eazmjc]

In Africa the briquettes are for cooking rather than heating, but in Nepal, charcoal briquettes have both functions.

[@ineffecient8243]

2:02 He doesn't lift

[@hoennnoodle]

+Piano Man he's a PhD student... I don't think he has time to lift

[@BluecoreG]

Piano Man, He can take you for a lift in his helicopter

[@eazmjc]

no machine needed - the method works well just using hands to do the squishing and the sun to dry the briquettes

[@blkhackr]

@mysibratus if they actually get it out in the field they could use man power to compress the bricket in a crank press, then let them dry in the air, in the lab they have the tech to make them faster, just now they have to dial back the tech involved in production and see if it still works

[@morlanius]

could be a neat idea. How many bricks were used in the time it took to cook those? and it would be interesting the time it took to get to that temperature against how many bricks it used and how he got the fire started, can you start a fire from them, otherwise they will always be a supplement fuel not a main fuel source.

[@jylp4u]

@xPBJ well, it takes less time to grow them than it does a tree and the guy says there is lots of them going to waste. That in mind, they should be easy to get a hold of.

[@Karhuu1]

I don't think you fully understood my point. I didn't mean that the problem with this would be the ashes that are produced in the process, it is the gases that would be produced, that would contain nutritions such as nitrogen. What i didn't think of was that the energy needed to produce gasenous compounds with the nutritions would be a lot larger that what the burning of the waste would be able to produce. In other words would the nutritions still remain in the ashes.

[@HistoricThirdWard]

What are the other items in the stove he used to cook his lunch?

[@boomtastic67]

I'd like to add that this is an example of where this guy has a good idea, but needs to sell it better

[@BartBe]

Someone ordered the "banana guy" into a filthy garage

[@snowballeffect7812]

man, this dude is really excited about his work. good to see.

[@ManSeekingChrist]

WOW! You are my hero! What did you find abotu the gases? how are they different from regular fuel like coal? Is it on the website?

[@JJAstley]

the whole process of creating the briquette requires more energy than the briquette itself...great!

[@joebloe437]

Oops! I was waiting on my slow connection. After I posted the grasses thing he brought up the stalks. I think the banana plant dies after one fruiting, annual.

[@LineMasterJorbob]

This is probably one of the most useful things I've seen in a long time. Great job guys!

[@eazmjc]

yup - we use a traditional mortar and pestle "in the field" and dry using the sun.

[@BinarySpike]

Our bodies need a *small* amount of potassium. However, it is much easier to dispose of potassium in the stomach versus the lungs. Same principle applies to plutonium. It's relatively safe to ingest plutonium versus breathing it because plutonium doesn't get absorbed easily. I used to work IT at a radioactive waste disposal project, I was trained on this stuff. Also, I did some academic work in local population radiation exposure, potassium spikes were common. However, the safety is debatable

[@slyla007]

i'm curious to know how long the bricketts burned for and what kind of emissions were produced.

[@blurstoftimes117]

But wouldn't the bricks have a danger of spontaneous combustion while drying out in the oven?

[@missyloulawless]

I think this is good work and good thinking... perhaps we will eventually have a world where this kind of work be of direct use to the communities he's talking about. An earnest young man.. he has good intentions, it's not a "fail" i see the points raised.. perhaps more work/research is needed?

[@ro0bear]

Search for Solar Cooker on wikipedia or google, you will find loads about them

[@mr.headcrab31]

the ones he had the cookout with were the peel pulp only ones, he had at least 4 in the oven from what i could make out, and the ones he used were deformed in a similar manner to the one he tested. I wasn't there, but that's how it appeared to me.

[@PanamaPete]

i was thinkin the same... but in a large amount i might be cost eficient, and the source (banana peal) wold be a waist anyways... its not like making fuel out of corn or beans that people normaly eat.. so this idea looks good so far..

[@TheHarleyEvans]

also that other guy was on about Ethiopia, the guy in the vid was talking about Rwanda, which are 2 different places

[@gilahappy]

In a cold place. With hotsnack in hand. You become a dragon!

[@Elriuhilu]

"On this week's episode of Masterchef..."

[@Membrane556]

Pretty much every kind of agriculture produces more waste products then it does food. So being able to find a use for crop waste is a very big thing. A good example the US for example may not have to import oil anymore if it could make alcohol from crop waste such as wheat chaff and corn stocks.

[@kiwkee]

a very creative and practical approach - not to be a smartass but could you also use them to build a hut - structurally would they support the weight from above if stacked like bricks? (if building supplies are scarce)

[@jtindy]

Your idea of making banana bricks to burn is a great idea, especially where there are lots that go to waste. It would have been nice to actually hear how hot it could become and the kind of exhaust it put off. I also couldn't help but notice how many of the bricks you used to cook the bananas and there were two different colors of brick. Perhaps another video, better prepared, should be considered. Not a bad start, though.

[@jazzamk]

How much energy was used in the compression stage and the heating and hardening stage? Surely that makes the process wasteful?

[@La_sagne]

first of all you don't need much sawdust, second you can't really use sawdust for much else and it's already a waste product and third you can also use the stems of the bananas which you can't buy in nottingham though

[@eazmjc]

I think you've missed the point. We're using ovens to get consistent results in the lab, but drying in the sun is fine in Africa. Similarly we need to measure the force, but you can make briquettes using simple hand presses. Check out the Legacy Foundation who are doing some very good work in this area.

[@ppp9922]

the edible part of the banana is still edible and can be used its just the skins that people throw away. they aren't gonna start making huge plantations to start making these bricks cause there are already plenty of people eating bananas that have skins that are unused.

[@BarneySaysHi]

So in theory, you could do this with any vegetable or any type of organic waste, such as gardenwaste? Normally it would be used as compost, but using grass and leafs would be not that different from bananapeels I think.

[@chimamiresatoh]

But the difference is, a compost heap has different fertilizing properties from a pile of ashes, which is mostly carbon. I can't speak absolutely on the subject, as I'm not an expert on growing bananas, but there is more to it than simply the composition of the banana waste, there is the process of decomposition, which can introduce different bacteria, insects, etc, which may have other effects on the soil. This is just a thought, not really a rebuttal.

[@normjohnson4629]

A factory fire log is basically saw dust and wax.

[@warles34]

I would like to know, if all the energy used to smash, mix and compress the bananas and dry it is comparable to the energy that is produced by the resulting combustile. Great idea =)

[@quenjankosky7348]

I feel like Im on a camping trip watching this.

[@GMCLabs]

@mysibratus most of this energy would come from manual labor in Africa, drying can be done in the sun so thats free, hes just using the machines to do it faster, but in africa the work they would have to do would be less than chopping wood,

[@mysibratus]

How much energy is needed for mixing, compressing and drying it?

[@AcrossFromMarty]

This is intriguing. I do have reservations about the amount of energy it takes to produce these 'bricks' but I will allow it for now. ;)

[@wheetcracker]

Very good idea, I hope it follows through.

[@tnc044]

Hmm, yeah, I see what you mean. Some things that seem ingenious are found to be ineffective in the long run. Ethanol requires plenty of energy and land to grow and stuff like that. I hope someone finds a solution to this energy crisis, and fast. Any suggestions?

[@SianChristina]

@chalky5678 well, really the only part of that they couldnt do themselves is the pressing, as they wouldnt have the machinery, but i assume you could use it just as banana and sawdust, might just be a little more messy. they could use a solar oven to cook the bricks.

[@endimion17]

That would be interesting to watch, but not to a large audience. Considering the state of the economy, agriculture and energetics in such African countries, this seems like a nice solution for some problems.

[@MarsRevival]

so it can pretty much be used as charcoal. to power machines. that's dumb. we need better forms of energy or conversion of energy

[@Spivias]

dude you spent more energy then the energy that thing provide

[@heoTheo]

Is there an update on his research?

[@janth2480]

gathering, peeling, and drying are already free/done with free will because they just want to eat what's inside.

[@barkulator]

How many tons of pressure do you need to squish the pulp? Is this really going to work?

[@Karhuu1]

Oh i didn't think of that, thanks :) I just assumed that the waste would combust completely

[@eazmjc]

yup, that's next on the research plan...

[@joebloe437]

This is the essentials done quickly, in Africa it is moot. They might chop and press with a plank to chop on and another plank screwed or rope twisted together. The first moisture expulsion needs to be great in order to preserve the fuel from biologic consumption. Saw dust is rare there, but grasses? Layers of chopped banana skins interlaced with layers of grasses pressed between planks or stones. Then those handmade clay cook stoves that resemble two camel humps which direct the heat to the pot

[@shidoink]

science shines when it helps people who cant help themselves. good work!

[@BinkieMcFartnuggets]

Chris Farley should have powered his school bus in "Billy Madison" on banana peels, things could have turned out different, if he had been looking out for stray peels to use...

[@aakksshhaayy]

So did this project go anywhere or what..?

[@allenthebird]

BRILLIANT. There are already wind polar, corn energy, fart energy, and poop energy. Now there's banana!

[@e5frog]

Is it worth all that effort and enery to make that, do you get more enery than you spend making these bricks?

[@BillySugger1965]

On a small research scale, it's hard to see how the return is worth it. But if done on a village scale, I'm sure the efficiencies would increase hugely.

[@Karhuu1]

First i thought that the idea was brilliant, but then i came across this one question about it; Isn't this accually decreasing the nutrition value of the soil in these areas? I mean that the waste parts of a banan contains probably a lot of nutrition, that will find its way back to the soil in which the bananas are grown if they are left on the bananafields. Wouldn't burning up these nutritions make the soil infertal in the long run?

[@meunightmaresa]

I believe he chose bananas because of its availability in the areas he was talking about. In terms of energy to produce, a human could very well just use a mortar & pestle to grind the plant parts and then compress the paste with weights (hell, maybe pressing on the paste with our hands could be considered viable). As for drying, well, the sun might work out well enough.