Designing Appropriate Aquaponic Systems for Off-Grid Communities

本研究将考虑英国和经济欠发达国家（LEDCs）离网社区的鱼菜共生系统的设计、建造、可接受性和维护，以及低成本、适当的水质测试方法的发展。由于许多低收入发展中国家营养不良率很高，因此需要一种适当的解决办法，更有效地利用土地和水资源，以改善粮食的供应和可及性。水培法是一种农业技术，在无土栽培中种植植物，并饲喂满足植物需要的营养液。水培法将传统的水培法与水产养殖相结合，利用鱼的排泄物作为提供给植物的营养来源。水培系统还需要一个过滤装置来处理鱼类产生的废水，为植物提供理想的营养。由于鱼类和植物的不同需求，水培系统很难同时优化鱼和植物。本研究将通过表征低成本过滤系统内的流动行为，以及这些系统去除悬浮固体物质、细菌和其他污染物的能力，来考虑水培系统的设计、施工可接受性和维护。由于技术需要适用于英国的LEDCs和离网社区，系统的设计必须满足包括性能、去除细菌、氮化合物和其他化学物质、测量水质、成本、材料的可用性和施工/操作的简单性在内的标准。

This research will consider the design, construction, acceptability and maintenance of aquaponics systems for off-grid communities both in the UK and in less economically developed countries (LEDCs) along with the development of low-cost, appropriate water quality test methods.With high rates of malnutrition in many LEDCs, there is a need for an appropriate solution that utilizes land and water resources more efficiently to improve availability and accessibility of food. Hydroponics is an agricultural technology where plants are grown in a soilless culture and are fed a nutrient solution made to cater for plant needs. Aquaponics combines traditional hydroponics with aquaculture, using fish waste as the source of the nutrients supplied to the plants. Aquaponic systems have an additional need for a filtration unit to process waste water from fish to provide ideal nutrients for the plant. Due to the differing needs of fish and plants aquaponic systems are hard to optimize for both fish and plants.This research will consider the design, construction acceptability and maintenance of aquaponic systems by characterizing flow behaviour within low-cost filtration systems along with the ability of these systems to remove suspended solid matter, bacterial and other pollutants. With the need that technology is appropriate for use in LEDCs as well as off-grid communities in the UK, the systems must be designed to meet criteria including performance, removal of bacteria, nitrogen compounds and other chemicals, measuring water quality, cost, availability of materials and simplicity of construction/operation.