Producing Hydrogen from Chocolate Waste

Hydrogen is renewable. The problem with using hydrogen for fuel has been that producing hydrogen is a long and involved process. It takes weeks to produce enough hydrogen to fill the tank of a fully hydrogen powered vehicle. That is why there aren’t more hydrogen cars on the road. They simply don’t make sense yet. Scientists are looking for ways to produce more hydrogen faster and in the U.K., they have found something very interesting. They have produced hydrogen from chocolate waste.

Researchers put left-over caramel and nougat in with E. coli bacteria to see what the reaction would be and came up with some very interesting answers. The bacteria fermented the sugars and organic acids were generated. These were toxic to the bacteria. It began to convert formic acid to hydrogen very quickly! The scientists were able to use hydrogen to generate enough electricity to power a small fan. Yes folks, they made hydrogen from chocolate waste and used it for fuel.

Of course the implications go much farther than that. Chocolate waste is not the only way to produce hydrogen in this manner. What if we could use all manner of waste to produce hydrogen? Can you imagine what we could do for our planet? Not only would we find a way to get rid of waste, we would also put clean air into the atmosphere by using hydrogen instead of petroleum based fuels.

This could be the answer the world has been looking for so desperately. While hydrogen is in our atmosphere in abundance, we have been unable to find a way to use it with any efficiency. The lack of hydrogen fuel stations is caused by the length of time it takes to produce hydrogen to fuel a car. With this new breakthrough, we may be able to produce hydrogen energy quickly, efficiently, and with our own waste!

Who would have thought that an experiment done with waste from chocolate could end up revolutionizing the way we fuel our cars? People have known about using waste for fuel for a while now, but the fuel they have been talking about is methane gas. Now, we have the opportunity to figure out how to produce a clean form of energy from a dirty mess. I don’t know about you, but I find the idea exciting and revolutionary.

Right now, the only way to produce mass amounts of hydrogen for fuel is by using solar power. This process takes too long to be a viable source for millions of drivers. The stations that are in use right now are few and far between. Honda can be credited for pioneering the attempt. There are people who are testing the idea. They drive hydrogen powered vehicles and go to Honda stations to fuel up. They can drive for weeks on one fill up. The problem is that it takes weeks to make enough hydrogen to do the job.

Because of U.K. researchers and their experiment with chocolate waste, our solution to this problem could be right around the corner. They have proved that garbage can be used for something that is beneficial to the planet as well as our pocket books.

For now we can use HHO in our cars in a smaller capacity and it still increases mileage, saves money and reduces carbon emissions. Until hydrogen from waste is available for all, purchasing an HHO kit and installing it is a good way to take advantage of hydrogen technology as a fuel source. Hydrogen from chocolate waste … and you can believe it!