BANANAS are a staple crop of Rwanda, in Africa. The fruit is eaten raw, fried and baked – it even produces banana beer and wine.
About two million tonnes are grown each year, but the fruit is only a small percentage of what the plant produces. The rest – skins, leaves and stems – is left to rot as waste. It could be used as a fuel instead of cutting down forests for timber to burn.
Now scientists at the University of Nottingham are looking at ways to use that waste to produce fuel, developing simple methods of producing banana briquettes that could be burned for cooking and heating.
PhD student Joel Chaney, in the faculty of engineering, has developed a method of producing the briquettes, using minimal tools and technology, which could be used in communities all over Africa.
First, the banana skins and leaves are mashed to a pulp in a hand-operated domestic meat mincer. This pulp is mixed with sawdust to create a mouldable material – in Rwanda, it would be mixed with sun-dried banana stems, ensuring that the whole plant is used. Then the pulp mix is compressed into briquette shapes and baked in an oven at 105C. Again, in Africa, the fuel would be left for a few days to dry in the sun.
Once dried, the briquettes form an ideal fuel, burning with a consistent, steady heat suitable for cooking. Joel has tested this himself by cooking fried banana fritters, which is similar to “red-red”, a popular Ghanaian dish.
To see how Joel makes his banana briquettes, watch the video at www.test-tube.org.uk/videos/pages _joel_bananas.htm