Student develops banana cooking fuel

We have all heard of "green" fuel. Now get ready for yellow fuel!

Scientists at The University of Nottingham are looking at ways to use that waste to produce fuel, developing simple methods of producing banana briquettes that could be burnt for cooking and heating. PhD student Joel Chaney in the Faculty of Engineering has developed a method of producing the briquettes using minimal tools and technology, which could be used in communities throughout Africa.

Joel Chaney hopes by using this method it could provide a big boost to people in the Third World who can spend four or five hours a day just collecting firewood. Also, it would help to reduce deforestation, which makes a significant contribution to global climate change.

The idea came about on a recent trip to Africa where Joel found out how a large part of the fruit is allowed to rot. With this in mind, Joel developed a method of turning what is left of bananas – the skin, leaves and stems – into briquettes for cooking.

The process is simple - firstly he mashes the banana skins and leaves into a pulp then uses paper and sawdust to create a mouldable material, though in African countries this would be exchanged for sun-dried banana stems.

The pulp is then compressed into briquette before being baked in an oven. In Africa, the oven part could be changed for just leaving the briquettes to dry in the sun.

The team has also worked out the burn rate of the briquettes they have made – How many handfuls of sawdust to a ​handful of banana skins via a set of scales and a computer programme.

His idea has begun to attract a number of commercial opportunities that have approached the University team.