You can have your tea and your bio-diesel too.
A Pakistani scientist has successfully invented a nano-catalyst and a process for low carbon emission production of bio-diesel and ethanol from used tea leaves.
Dr. Syed Tajamul Hussain, a nano scientist working at Pakistan’s National Centre for Physics (NCP) (Islamabad) and his research team have proven that used tea can be used to produce bio-diesel on commercial basis in a process that is almost free of carbon emissions. The results of their research is published in the Journal of Bio-Technology in its January 2010 issue. The Pakistani team hopes to raise enough money to build a pilot plant to produce bio-diesel from spent tea.
Image Credit: National Centre for Physics
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The nanoparticles can produce 560 ml of bio-diesel from each kilogram of used tea. If the process is scaled up to a commercial basis it would be a giant step towards production of alternative energy resources in Pakistan, the world's third largest importer of tea after China and the United Kingdom.Tajamul began his work in search of an alternative to edible food products as the source material for the production of bio-diesel and ethanol.
The nanoparticles can produce 560 ml of bio-diesel from each kilogram of used tea. If the process is scaled up to a commercial basis it would be a giant step towards production of alternative energy resources in Pakistan, the world's third largest importer of tea after China and the United Kingdom.Tajamul began his work in search of an alternative to edible food products as the source material for the production of bio-diesel and ethanol.
Tajamul's research also showed that spent tea can also be used for production of alcohol. Used coffee has been used to make alcohol, but no one had tried to produce ethanol from used tea.
