Designing Appropriate Aquaponic Systems for Off-Grid Communities

这项研究将考虑英国和经济欠发达国家（LEDC）离网社区的鱼菜共生系统的设计、建造、可接受性和维护，沿着低成本、适当的水质测试方法的开发。由于许多LEDC的营养不良率很高，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获取。水培是一种农业技术，植物在无土栽培中生长，并被喂食营养液以满足植物的需求。鱼菜共生结合了传统的水耕法和水产养殖，利用鱼类废物作为植物营养的来源。鱼菜共生系统还需要一个过滤装置来处理鱼的废水，为植物提供理想的营养。由于鱼类和植物的不同需求，很难同时优化鱼菜共生系统。本研究将通过表征低成本过滤系统沿着的流动行为，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，来考虑鱼菜共生系统的设计、施工可接受性和维护。由于技术需要适用于LEDC以及英国的离网社区，系统的设计必须符合标准，包括性能，细菌，氮化合物和其他化学品的去除，水质测量，成本，材料的可用性和施工/操作的简单性。

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.