The innovative method in producing hydrogen has been achieved by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne using a rapid photo-pyrolysis process.

Biowaste presents a unique opportunity for the clean energy economy, by producing hydrogen from it, much of the pollution that normally goes to landfills can be converted into the clean energy carrier.

This means that vast quantities of hydrogen can be used to decarbonise several industrial operations across the world whilst also reducing pollution.

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The new method uses flashlight pyrolysis using a Xenon lamp with the system also being capable of several other purposes such as synthesising nanoparticles.

This flashing technique was used on different sources of biomass: banana peels, corn cobs, orange peels, coffee beans and coconut shells, all of which were initially dried at 105°C for 24 hours and then ground and sieved to a thin powder.

What stands out in this method is that both its end products, hydrogen and solid-carbon biochar, are valuable.

The hydrogen can be used as green fuel, while the carbon biochar, can either be buried and used as a fertiliser or it can be used to manufacture conductive electrodes.