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 TechnologyThe post #18 Cocoa Power first appeared on Engineering Matters.

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