Paper-Powered Battery Design Unveiled By Sony

Japanese electronics firm Sony has unveiled a paper-powered battery design.

The technology - showcased at the Eco-Products 2011 event held in Tokyo between 15-17 December - produces electricity through a process similar to human food digestion, essentially employing enzymes that break down the paper into a usable fuel source.

However, at present, the device can only produce limited amounts of electricity, sufficient to run a small fan, for example. Even so, it's a potentially significant new enviro technology breakthrough for Sony which, four years ago, unveiled to the world this system's predecessor - a food-powered battery.

Sony Waste Paper Battery

The Sony waste paper battery harnesses the capabilities of the cellulase class of enzymes, which deconstruct the cellulose content of paper, turning it back into glucose (cellulose is manufactured from long, glucose chains to start with). It's this glucose that can then be drawn on as a battery fuel source. The battery can use a variety of different waste paper types - newspaper and unrecyclable cardboard among them.

The whole paper battery concept is intended to move the world towards individual self-sufficient energy use, with the potential for ordinary members of the public to use their own unwanted paper to power gadgets around the home. That, though, would require the paper battery to produce more in the way of power. Even so, it's not inconceivable to think that, in years to come, householders might not need to have their waste paper collected and recycled externally at all.

Paper-Powered Battery

Sony's presentation of the paper-powered battery technology at Eco-Products 2011 involved a jar filled with liquid cellulase, a supply of shredded paper and the help of passing children. Company representatives encouraged the children to feed the paper into the jar, give it a shake and then watch as the energy produced was fed out to a desktop-style fan.

"This is the same mechanism with which termites eat wood to get energy", one Sony representative told the Tokyo Times, adding that - even with its present power limitations - the concept has an instant environmental advantage over traditional batteries, in being free of harmful chemicals and metals.