Brewery Waste Yields Carbon Nanotubes

Nov-27-19 Leftover grain from brewing could find a new life as a low-cost source of activated carbon and carbon nanotubes.

Breweries create huge amounts of spent grain after brewing, most of which is discarded. The low-cost and novel process described by Dr. Ahmed Osman of Queen’s University in Belfast involves drying the grain and then subjecting it to chemical and heat treatment with phosphoric acid, followed by a potassium hydroxide wash. The result is the highly valued activated carbon and carbon nanotubes, with one kilogram of barley waste yielding enough carbon to cover one hundred soccer fields.

Image - Spent malt grain in a Bathams brewery mash tun

More Info about this Invention:

[SCIENCEFOCUS.COM]
[TECHNOLOGY.ORG]

---