Skip to main content
  • Where to buy
  • Company
    • About us
    • Careers
    • Events
  • Support
    • Laboratory Planning
    • Register a Product
    • Register Your Product (USA & Canada Only)
  • Contact
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Português
  • 日本語
  • 中文
Home ELGA LabWater
  • Products
    • PURELAB
    • CENTRA
    • MEDICA
    • BIOPURE
    • ELGA Full Product Range
  • Applications
    • Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
    • Cell and Tissue Culture
    • Clinical Biochemistry
    • Electrochemistry
    • Gas Chromatography
    • General lab water requirement
    • Immunochemistry
    • Liquid Chromatography
    • Mass Spectrometry
    • Microbiology
    • Molecular Biology
    • Spectrophotometry
  • Technologies
    • Activated Carbon
    • Electrodeionization (EDI)
    • Filtration
    • Ion Exchange
    • PureSure
    • Reverse Osmosis
    • Ultraviolet
  • Impurities In Water
    • Dissolved Gases
    • Inorganic Compounds
    • Microorganisms & Bacteria
    • Organic Compounds
    • Particulates
  • Knowledge
    • Blog
    • Case Studies
    • Ultrapure water
    • Guides and White Papers
  • Products
    • PURELAB
      • PURELAB® flex 1 & 2
      • PURELAB® flex 3 & 4
    • CENTRA
      • CENTRA® 60/120
      • CENTRA® RDS
      • CENTRA® R200
    • MEDICA
      • MEDICA® 7/15
      • MEDICA® EDI 15/30
      • MEDICA® Pro EDI 60/120
      • MEDICA® Pro-LPS
      • MEDICA® Pro-R and Pro-RE
      • MEDICA® R200
    • BIOPURE
      • BIOPURE 7/15
      • BIOPURE 60/120
      • BIOPURE 200/300/600
    • ELGA Full Product Range
      • PURELAB® Classic
  • Applications
    • Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
    • Cell and Tissue Culture
    • Clinical Biochemistry
    • Electrochemistry
    • Gas Chromatography
    • General lab water requirement
    • Immunochemistry
    • Liquid Chromatography
    • Mass Spectrometry
    • Microbiology
    • Molecular Biology
    • Spectrophotometry
  • Technologies
    • Activated Carbon
    • Electrodeionization (EDI)
    • Filtration
    • Ion Exchange
    • PureSure
    • Reverse Osmosis
    • Ultraviolet
  • Impurities In Water
    • Dissolved Gases
    • Inorganic Compounds
    • Microorganisms & Bacteria
    • Organic Compounds
    • Particulates
  • Knowledge
    • Blog
      • Analytical Chemistry
      • Clinical & Pharma
      • Cool Science
      • Environment and sustainability
      • Life in the lab
      • Purelab product design
      • Science of the future
      • Water Purity
      • Water in the lab
    • Case Studies
      • Abbott Diagnostics chooses ELGA MEDICA systems in South Asia
      • Beam Me Up, Scotty: PURELAB® Option Q Delivers Essential Ultra Pure Water
      • Clean Water for a Clean Future
      • Critital Tests Benefit from PURELAB® Option Reliable Pure Water
      • DASA: The biggest medical diagnostics company in Brazil
      • ELGA helps immuneserology labs maximize uptime
      • Fondazione Telethon Continues to Choose ELGA Labwater as a Trusted Partner
      • Importance of ultrapure Type 1+ water for the development of generic medicines
      • MEDICA® Pro selected for Siemens ADVIA® analyzers at City General Hospital
      • Optimale Wasserqualität für mikrobiologische Forschung und Lehre
      • PURELAB® Option R Guarantees Pure Water for Leading Microfluidics Technology
      • PURELAB® Pulse Delivers Reliable Water Quality and Quantity for a Wide Range of Applications
      • PURELAB® flex: an ideal training system for today's research method
      • Powering Cutting-Edge Gene Research
      • Sichere Reinstwasserversorgung für präzise Produkttests
      • Zentrale Reinstwasser-Aufbereitung für Analyser
      • ELGA LabWater and Beckman Coulter Join Forces
      • Applied New Technologies Department Improves ICP, IC & HPLC Sample Turnaround Times with PURELAB®
      • Unlocking the secrets of the Antarctic with the aid of ultrapure water
      • Advancing Genetic Technologies
      • Cross Infection Control: Pure and Simple
      • Researching effective new ways to prevent cardiovascular disease at the University of Columbia
    • Ultrapure water
    • Guides and White Papers
      • HPLC Water Purity
      • HPLC in Pharma
      • Reducing Clinical Risks
      • Sustainability
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Português
  • 日本語
  • 中文
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Global Legal Compliance
  • Patents
  • Impressum

Let's talk about lab water

  • Categories
    • Analytical Chemistry
    • Clinical & Pharma
    • Cool Science
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Future Science
    • Life in The Lab
    • PURELAB Product Design
    • Science of the Future
    • Water In The Lab
    • Water Purity
  • Authors
    • ELGA Editorial Team
    • Natasha Zarach
    • Dr Paul Whitehead
    • Dr Alison Halliday
    • John Walker
Environment & Sustainability
Cool Science

Harnessing the Power of Tree Gum Waste

22 Mar 2021
- by Dr Alison Halliday

Tree Gum

Could recycling discarded tree gums offer a simple, cost-effective and sustainable solution that can help meet global energy demands while reducing waste?

Naturally derived gums are used for a variety of purposes in the food industry, including as thickening agents, emulsifiers, gelling agents or stabilisers. For example, Arabic gum is collected from the sap of Acacia trees, Karaya gum from Sterculia trees, and Guar gum from guar beans. But only high-grade gums with better purity are suitable for human consumption – and the lower grade, contaminated gums are often discarded. It is challenging to find uses for these low–value biomaterials due to their sticky nature and impurities.

Researchers have previously shown that flowing water over nanostructured carbon can capture small amounts of energy and convert it into usable electricity. As low–grade gum waste often possesses high carbon content, this could potentially offer new opportunities for its exploitation. Finding ways to synthesize carbon-based nanomaterials from gum waste could pave the way to a new generation of low–cost energy harvesting devices. This could provide a self–sustaining, cost-effective way to power electronics – as well as reducing waste.

Extracting Value From Inedible Tree Gums

In a new study, published in Green Chemistry, researchers develop a method to recycle non–food–grade tree gum wastes into nanoporous carbon (nC) and demonstrate its potential for harvesting energy from tap water.1 In the synthetic procedure, low–grade gums – including Arabic gum, Karaya gum and Guar gum – were pre–carbonized followed by potassium hydroxide activation in a furnace. The team used water generated by an ELGA PURELAB® laboratory water purification system to remove any impurities that may affect the end product. 

The researchers characterised the synthesized nC, finding that it has a high surface area and abundant micropores – making it well–suited for water-driven effective electrical energy conversion by enabling the fast evaporation of tap water via capillary action. The team went onto demonstrate that the nC–based fabricated energy harvesters can generate sufficient power to turn on a commercial light-emitting diode (LED). Importantly, these devices can be scaled up to turn on objects requiring higher voltages and currents, such as a university logo.

Scalable, Renewable and Practical

In this study, researchers successfully develop a simple, cheap and efficient method to synthesize nC from low–grade gum wastes. The method is highly versatile and can be used on a wide variety of gums, which were all transformed into nC with high surface area and pore volume. The fabricated nC offers real-world practical applications for harvesting electrical energy from tap water, showing a high capability for electricity production and reliable output generation, easily turning on an LED using a stored power source.

This is the first step towards building a sustainable solution to help overcome the world’s energy challenges, converting biodegradable and non–toxic gum wastes into carbon nanomaterials for green energy harvesting that is scalable, renewable, and practical.

Why Choose ELGA LabWater?

ELGA LabWater has been a trusted name in pure and ultrapure water since 1937. Our dedication to ultrapure and pure water is a guarantee that we will continue to provide the best solutions with the best service.


Reference:

  1. Ventkateshaiah, A. et al. Recycling non–food–grade tree gum wastes into nanoporous carbon for sustainable energy harvesting. Green Chem 2020;22:1198 


Dr Alison Halliday

After completing an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry & Genetics at Sheffield University, Alison was awarded a PhD in Human Molecular Genetics at the University of Newcastle. She carried out five years as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UCL, investigating the genes involved in childhood obesity syndrome. Moving into science communications, she spent ten years at Cancer Research UK engaging the public about the charity’s work. She now specialises in writing about research across the life sciences, medicine and health.

Download our Going Green Report Now

Are lab water impurities compromising your research on environmental water contaminants?

Learn how fellow reserachers are contributing to the fight against water contaminants

              Download your copy of the full report here

 

Highlights

19 Apr 2021
LC-MS/MS and Ultrapure Water - an Essential Partnership for Environmental Research
15 Apr 2021
Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and its Measurement
12 Apr 2021
Printing Personalised Doses of Medical Cannabis - Finland
5 Apr 2021
Every Dog Has Its Day: Rare Earths – The Elements of Today and Tomorrow
29 Mar 2021
Streamlining HPLC - Australia
26 Mar 2021
Deionised Water
26 Mar 2021
Pure Water in the Lab: Everything you Need to Know
26 Mar 2021
Different Types of Pure Water For The Lab: What You Need to Know

Categories

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Clinical & Pharma
  • Cool Science
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Future Science
  • Life in The Lab
  • PURELAB Product Design
  • Science of the Future
  • Water In The Lab
  • Water Purity

Video

  • Enquiry
  • Get a Quote
  • Book a Demo
  • Find an Approved Partner

Enquiry

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Get a Quote

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Book a Demo

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Call us

Can't find what you are looking for?

Support Number
+44 (0)20 3567 7300
United Kingdom Sales
+44 (0)1628 879 704
United States of America Sales
+1 877-315-3542
France Sales
+33 1 40 83 65 00
China Sales
+86 400-616-8882

 

ELGA LabWater Head Quarters

Lane End Business Park
Lane End, High Wycombe
HP14 3BY
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0) 203 567 7300
F: +44 (0) 203 567 7205

The Ultrapure Water Specialists

  • Support & Services
  • Events

Case Studies

  • Abbott Diagnostics
  • DASA Medical Diagnostics
  • NeoDIN Medical Institute
  • North Staffordshire NHS Trust
  • Olsberg Vocational College

Resources

  • Learn About Ultrapure Water
  • Guides and White Papers
  • Purification Technologies
  • Applications
  • Impurities In Water

Blogs

  • Latest Blog
  • Water Purity - Different Types of Pure Water
  • What is Clinical Laboratory Reagent Water (CLSI)?
  • What is Total Organic Carbon (TOC)?
  • Language
    • Deutsch
    • English
    • Español
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Português
    • 日本語
    • 中文
  • Other Veolia Sites
    • Veolia
    • Veolia Fondation
    • Veolia Water Technologies

© VWS (UK) Ltd. trading as ELGA LabWater. 2021 - All rights reserved.
ELGA is the global laboratory water brand name of Veolia.

  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Global Legal Compliance
  • Patents
  • Impressum
Elga Veolia
TOP

© 2017 ELGA Veolia