Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share #18 Cocoa Power
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
#18 Cocoa Power
Four thousand years after it was first used as a form of
nutrition for the Olmec people of Mesoamerica, engineers are finding new ways
to harness the potential of the fruit from the miraculous Theobroma Cacao tree,
better known today as cocoa pods. Their solution could provide rural farming
communities in Ghana with a new form of renewable energy, that simultaneously
makes use of the one part of the cacao fruit that is left to rot, the husk.
By examining the thermal properties of the four main types
of cocoa pods a team at Nottingham University have proved that these husks are
not waste at all, but a power source, that when gasified could generate
electricity for remote farming communities. A solution that if delivered at a
local scale would create a circular economy for the cocoa bean fruit and take
the country even further along its journey of poverty reduction.
Listen now to find out more about the story of cocoa and how
it could transform off-grid communities in equatorial cocoa growing nations in
this episode.
GUESTS
Professor Jo Darkwa, University
of Nottingham
Dr Julius Ahiekpor, Centre for Energy,
Environmental Sustainable Design, Ghana
SOURCES
The
True History of Chocolate – Sophie and Michael Coe
The University of Nottingham
Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
The post #18 Cocoa Power first appeared on Engineering Matters.
View all episodes
By Reby Media
4.5
88 ratings
Four thousand years after it was first used as a form of
nutrition for the Olmec people of Mesoamerica, engineers are finding new ways
to harness the potential of the fruit from the miraculous Theobroma Cacao tree,
better known today as cocoa pods. Their solution could provide rural farming
communities in Ghana with a new form of renewable energy, that simultaneously
makes use of the one part of the cacao fruit that is left to rot, the husk.
By examining the thermal properties of the four main types
of cocoa pods a team at Nottingham University have proved that these husks are
not waste at all, but a power source, that when gasified could generate
electricity for remote farming communities. A solution that if delivered at a
local scale would create a circular economy for the cocoa bean fruit and take
the country even further along its journey of poverty reduction.
Listen now to find out more about the story of cocoa and how
it could transform off-grid communities in equatorial cocoa growing nations in
this episode.
GUESTS
Professor Jo Darkwa, University
of Nottingham
Dr Julius Ahiekpor, Centre for Energy,
Environmental Sustainable Design, Ghana
SOURCES
The
True History of Chocolate – Sophie and Michael Coe
The University of Nottingham
Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
The post #18 Cocoa Power first appeared on Engineering Matters.
More shows like Engineering Matters
View all
Freakonomics Radio
32,246 Listeners
99% Invisible
26,242 Listeners
More or Less
863 Listeners
HistoryExtra podcast
3,196 Listeners
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
2,113 Listeners
The Infinite Monkey Cage
1,952 Listeners
Comedy of the Week
480 Listeners
Aviation Week's Check 6 Podcast
400 Listeners
Page 94: The Private Eye Podcast
428 Listeners
Curious Cases
756 Listeners
Unexpected Elements
363 Listeners
The Rest Is History
15,506 Listeners
The Rest Is Politics
3,858 Listeners
The News Agents - USA
454 Listeners
The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends
132 Listeners