Virginia Tech Turns to Walnut Shells, Apple Core, and Other Food Wastes for Eco-Friendly Batteries

A pair of researchers at Virginia Tech have come up with a new approach to improve the sustainability of electronics — by building batteries out of food waste like apple cores and walnut shells.

"This research could be a piece of the puzzle in solving the sustainable energy problems for rechargeable batteries," claims project co-lead Haibo Huang, an associate professor at Virginia Tech, claims. "Demand for these reusable batteries has skyrocketed and we need to find a way to reduce the environmental impacts of batteries."

The team's approach takes food waste, from things like apple cores to large quantities of spent grain, and processes it to a fiber that can be used to create the carbon materials required for battery anodes — handily dealing with both the waste itself and dramatically reducing the battery's environmental footprint.

"Our unique approach of using agricultural waste-derived carbon materials to host alkali metal, such as lithium and sodium," says Feng Lin, principal investigator and associate professor, "will bring major advances to agricultural waste processing and battery technology."

"We thought why not convert food waste into battery materials because of how much food waste there is across the globe," Huang says. “Most of these wastes are put into garbage and then sent to landfills. We just need to solve the battery side."

"As a food processing engineer, I can modify the composition of the food. I could take the proteins and lipids out, along with some of the minerals, to see how it impacts battery performance."

The pair are now working on additional testing of the material, to be followed by an economic analysis — with a view to bringing it to market commercially, initially targeting data centers and other heavy energy users.

The team's work has not yet been published, with more information available on the Virginia Tech website.