Isolated Cultivation of Algal Resource Utilizing Sewage (ICARUS) for Advancing Research and Education on Membrane Biotechnology for Wastewater BioRecycling

1236746 Yeh对气候变化和化石燃料枯竭的担忧需要开发和实施可靠形式的可再生能源。 微藻衍生生物燃料有可能在封存二氧化碳的同时显著抵消石油。 然而，要使藻类生物燃料既具有成本效益又具有可持续性，它必须在廉价、易得和可持续的水和营养来源上生长。 社会上丰富的污水可以作为藻类生物燃料大规模可持续和可行的关键原料。 然而，直接在污水上培养藻类是具有挑战性的，这是由于浑浊、不期望的化学物质、细菌污染和浮游动物摄食。 需要一种隔离培养藻类同时仍然受益于污水中的水和营养物的方法。 该项目的目的是协调和可持续地整合藻类生物燃料生产和废水处理的不同目标，通过开发一种称为藻类资源利用污水隔离培养（ICARUS）的工艺。调谐透析膜能够选择性地被动运输所需的化学成分，同时保持藻类细胞与污水中的细菌、大分子和其他宏观成分分离。 ICARUS建立在从利用透析的其他行业（例如，医学）。 高效的生物质生产和收获是当前全面藻类生物燃料生产的两个主要挑战。ICARUS旨在通过使用被动膜系统来解决这两个问题，该系统减少了过程的能源需求，同时仍然实现了高藻类细胞密度并促进了收获。项目研究人员将研究藻类-污水动力学，并探索扩大被动藻类膜分批生物反应器的潜力。哪里有人，哪里就有污水。 由于人口增长和资源枯竭，废水的可持续管理是一个日益引起全球关注的问题。 废水中含有许多可再生资源（嵌入式能源，肥料，水），这些资源在传统的废水处理中大多被忽视或利用不足，传统的废水处理侧重于去除而不是回收。 该项目旨在促进废水处理从清除（去除有害物质）到恢复（变坏为好）的模式转变。 通过促进从废水中生产藻类生物质，ICARUS减少了人类向接收沃茨排放的营养物质，同时将废物转化为藻类生物质，这是一种增值材料。藻类生物质随后可用作生物柴油、肥料或消化为沼气，通过提供可再生能源、封存二氧化碳和减少废物处理需求来改善处理厂的能源状况。ICARUS技术的成功开发在可持续资源管理领域造福社会。该项目的目标是通过将研究成果纳入现有的研究生和本科生课程，并与当地教育伙伴合作，将研究和教育沿着生物回收这一主题。 在皮内拉斯科学中心（SCP），研究人员将利用该项目的实验数据建立计算机模型，开发生物回收概念课程。 将在SCP设计和安装一个互动显示器-生物回收促进地球和空间的可持续性（BASES），该显示器将被纳入所开发的课程。 这些课程的改编版本将纳入学习门社区学校、盖茨高中和其他学校的课程。 来自BASES展览的数据将被整合到一个水质游戏移动的应用程序中。还将围绕BASES建立一个巡回展览，用于社区外展活动。

1236746YehConcerns over climate change and depleting fossil fuels necessitate the development and implementation of reliable forms of renewable energy. Microalgae-derived biofuel has the potential to significantly offset petroleum while sequestering carbon dioxide. However, for algae biofuel to be both cost-effective and sustainable, it must be grown on cheap, readily available and sustainable sources of water and nutrients. Sewage, which is abundant in society, can serve as the critical feedstock to make algae biofuel sustainable and feasible on a large scale. However, cultivating algae directly on sewage is challenging due to turbidity, undesirable chemical species, bacterial contamination and zooplankton grazing. A method to cultivate algae in isolation while still benefiting from water and nutrients in sewage is needed. The aim of the project is to reconcile and sustainably integrate the disparate objectives of algae biofuel production and wastewater treatment, by developing a process termed Isolated Cultivation of Algal Resource Utilizing Sewage (ICARUS). A tuned dialysis membrane enables the selective passive transport of desirable chemical constituents, while keeping algal cells separate from bacteria, macromolecules and other macro-constituents in sewage. ICARUS builds on the knowledge base derived from other industries utilizing dialysis (e.g., medicine). Efficient biomass production and harvesting are two major challenges to current full-scale algae biofuel production. ICARUS aims to address both concerns by using a passive membrane system, which reduces the energy demand of the process, while still achieving high algal cell density and facilitated harvesting. Project investigators will study algae-sewage dynamics and explore the potential for a scaled-up passive algae membrane batch bioreactor. Where there are people, there is wastewater. The sustainable management of wastewater is an issue of escalating global concern due to population increase and resource depletion. Wastewater contains many renewable resources (embedded energy, fertilizers, water) that have mostly been ignored or underutilized in conventional wastewater treatment, which focuses on removal rather than recovery. The project aims to promote a paradigm shift in wastewater treatment from removal (getting rid of the bad) to recovery (turning bad into good). By promoting algae biomass production from wastewater, ICARUS reduces anthropogenic discharges of nutrients into receiving waters, while converting waste products into algae biomass, a value-added material. Algae biomass can subsequently be used as biodiesel, fertilizer, or digested for biogas, improving the energy profile of the treatment plant by providing renewable energy, sequestering carbon dioxide, and reducing the waste treatment demand. The successful development of the ICARUS technology benefits society in the area of sustainable resource management. The project will aim to integrated research and education along the theme of biorecycling by incorporating research findings into existing graduate and undergraduate curricula, and working with local education partners. At the Science Center of Pinellas (SCP) the researchers will develop curriculum on the biorecycling concept utilizing a computer model built with experimental data derived from the project. An interactive display - Biorecycling for Advancing Sustainability on Earth and in Space (BASES) - will be designed and installed at the SCP, which will be incorporated into the courses developed. Adapted versions of the courses will be incorporated into the curriculum at Learning Gate Community School, GATES High School and other schools. Data from the BASES exhibit will be incorporated into a water quality gaming mobile app. A traveling exhibit will also be built around BASES for use at community outreach events.