Purdue researchers develop method to produce hydrogen from food waste, thereby addressing the US’s $200 billion waste issue

In Indiana, researchers at Purdue University have developed a method that could cut down the $200 billion worth of food waste Americans create every year while also providing another source of clean energy. The new method uses yeast to break down food waste into clean hydrogen for further use with minimal preprocessing steps. “Our system basically allows a user to take food waste, grind it, place it in a reactor and use our process to create hydrogen in about 18-24 hours. That’s much faster than the days it takes with other methods” stated the Professor of Energy and the Environment at Purdue. He estimates that the system developed at Purdue could lead to a 20%-25% increase in efficiency when producing hydrogen from food waste compared with current methods. 

Category: R&D