What if there was an up and coming innovation that could save the world? Would you support it? Well there is such a thing. It has been around for a few years, but only now does it have the potential to do good on a worldwide scale. This innovation is called algae biofuel. Algae biofuel is a fuel just like gasoline or diesel, but instead of being mined from the ground causing irreparable damage, it is grown in a pond and actually has positive side effects on the environment. Algae Biomass Organization states, “Algae-derived biofuel can reduce life cycle CO2 emissions by 50 to 70 percent compared to petroleum fuels.” Algae biofuel could be one of the solutions to our polluted atmosphere. Algae is special because it can actually clean the water
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It is called the Wastewater and Energy Sustainability Training Team (WESTT). WESTT is a class at Cal Poly where undergraduate students have to opportunity participate in cutting edge research led by graduate students who use the research for their thesis. Inside of WESTT there are a few different sub programs, one of which is the Delhi project run by graduate student Christopher Pittner. Pittner talked about the purpose of the delhi project, “The purpose of our project is to determine the effect of wastewater dilution rate on biomass productivity, treatment performance, nutrient assimilation, and settling effect, and native algal polyculture.” This means that they are trying to get the cleanest water with the best algae growth as …show more content…
First the raw sewage goes into the Influent box where there are screens that pick up any large objects that don’t belong such as twigs, etc. Second are the Facultative Ponds. There are two different facultative ponds, North and South, where the algae first begin to grow naturally and eat away at the sewage. There are no added algae to the system, all of the algae is already in the wastewater but has not been given the chance to grow until they enter the Facultative ponds. Next are the two High Rate Ponds, Inner, and Outer, which shallow ponds that are constantly churned with paddles. Most of the algae growth occurs here because all of the nutrients are mixed together, making it easier for algae to get the food they need. By the time the water leaves these ponds, all the contaminates are gone and only algae is left. After those the two ponds go back into one in the Algae Settling Pond. All the algae that has grown settles out to the bottom of this pond, and after all the algae settles the clean water is then drained into another pond. The algae left behind is then harvested. The harvested algae is then dried and prepared for transportation. Finally the clean water enters the Maturation Pond. The only reason for this pond is to fulfill EPA requirements of a five pond system. After the water goes to the Maturation Pond it is distributed into into a leach field so that it can go back into
It is called the Wastewater and Energy Sustainability Training Team (WESTT). WESTT is a class at Cal Poly where undergraduate students have to opportunity participate in cutting edge research led by graduate students who use the research for their thesis. Inside of WESTT there are a few different sub programs, one of which is the Delhi project run by graduate student Christopher Pittner. Pittner talked about the purpose of the delhi project, “The purpose of our project is to determine the effect of wastewater dilution rate on biomass productivity, treatment performance, nutrient assimilation, and settling effect, and native algal polyculture.” This means that they are trying to get the cleanest water with the best algae growth as …show more content…
First the raw sewage goes into the Influent box where there are screens that pick up any large objects that don’t belong such as twigs, etc. Second are the Facultative Ponds. There are two different facultative ponds, North and South, where the algae first begin to grow naturally and eat away at the sewage. There are no added algae to the system, all of the algae is already in the wastewater but has not been given the chance to grow until they enter the Facultative ponds. Next are the two High Rate Ponds, Inner, and Outer, which shallow ponds that are constantly churned with paddles. Most of the algae growth occurs here because all of the nutrients are mixed together, making it easier for algae to get the food they need. By the time the water leaves these ponds, all the contaminates are gone and only algae is left. After those the two ponds go back into one in the Algae Settling Pond. All the algae that has grown settles out to the bottom of this pond, and after all the algae settles the clean water is then drained into another pond. The algae left behind is then harvested. The harvested algae is then dried and prepared for transportation. Finally the clean water enters the Maturation Pond. The only reason for this pond is to fulfill EPA requirements of a five pond system. After the water goes to the Maturation Pond it is distributed into into a leach field so that it can go back into