Plant-e technology - electricity from plants

Over the past few years, many companies involved in the development of green sources of energy have been conducting painstaking research aimed at finding alternative methods for generating it. So, the Dutch company Plant-e was successful in using for this purpose the by-products of the photosynthesis of some water-loving plants.

The principle of generating electricity is somewhat similar to the well-known school experiment, when the electrodes inserted in potatoes or in lemon allow some electricity to be extracted, however, the technology described here has a more complex device.

The presentation of Plant-e's new technology took place in the autumn of 2014 in a park in Hamburg. The project was called “Starry Sky”, and its essence was that 300 ordinary LED lamps will receive electricity from living plants. This was demonstrated to all interested observers who were present at the presentation that day.

Along with the Starry Sky project, Plant-e implements Wi-Fi access point power systems, chargers for mobile gadgets, power supplies for illuminating transport infrastructure, road signs, etc., as well as electrical modules for installation on roofs of houses. All this works with the use of energy received from living plants, without even causing these plants even minimal harm.

The founders of Plant-e are convinced of the revolutionary nature of the technology, since the method is completely environmentally friendly, and most importantly, it is possible to use vast areas of swamps and rice fields to produce electricity on an industrial scale where there is a shortage of it, and we are talking about whole countries.

The technology is based on a kind of battery, which is a square plastic container with a side of 50 cm. The container is divided into two parts by an ion-selective membrane through which the movement of hydrogen ions to the cathode takes place.

An aerobic cathode chamber is located in one part of the container, and an anaerobic anode chamber in the other part. Free electrons rush to the anode, which are transmitted to the cathode through an external circuit. As a result of the combination of hydrogen with oxygen, water is formed in the cathode chamber and an electric current is generated.

This becomes possible because during photosynthesis, solar energy is converted through leaves into organic matter, which is then removed by the plant through the roots into the surrounding moist soil.

Part of the organic matter is consumed by the plant itself to ensure its vital functions, and the remaining part of the soil water is processed by microorganisms, as a result of which many free electrons are formed, and so they are used to produce electricity. Simply put, electrodes immersed in this moist soil capture electrons and produce electric current.

According to Marjolein Elder, Executive Director of the company, one square meter of garden area, equipped in this way, will be able to produce 28 kWh of electric energy per year, and this is quite suitable for areas of, say, 100 square meters or more, whether it’s a garden plot, or greenhouses equipped in a similar way.

The next step at this stage will be the use of swamps by the company. According to the plan of the developers, pipes will be horizontally submerged in the swamp, swamp, rice field, or river delta, in which a process similar to the process in square cells will occur. A tubular prototype has already been created, and will be launched onto the market over the next three to five years.