Hi Jack,

Sorry, I just saw this. Check out our website for more info: www.qbisci.com/. Also, feel free to email me directly if you have any questions. You can find my email address on our website.

Thanks,

Natalie

Hi,

Just been reading of your project...algae for treatment of waste. Our company has created a Microbial Fuel Cell for treating waste. Initially we have been treating waste from the Whisky making process here in Scotland.

However we now have added the facility of creating algae using photobioreactors.

We would like to hear more about your technology. We have pilot operations in Okinawa treating farm waste (pigs, hens etc,)and want to start treating farm waste here in Scotland.

Our company is a Spin-out from Edinburgh University.

Kind regards

Jack McLaughlin... Director MPowerWorld

Dear Natalie,
I hope that your project is developing well. It would be nice to get an update of your progress. I also have some questions that I would like to ask you about.

From what I could see in your first phase report you were planning to go to full scale in the US but also in developing countries. Do you foresee or have you already experienced challenges in the process due to changes of wastewater characteristics in different contexts?

Depending of the sources of wastewater, there may be elevated levels of heavy metals in incoming water. Is this a parameter that you analyze? Considering that algae can have an uptake of heavy metals that subsequently can be accumulated in the shrimps. As an alternative to use the algae as feed, have you also considered it as a substrate for biogas generation?

To enhance the reuse potential further in your project, are you also considering using the treated wastewater for irrigation purposes?

Looking forward to get some news from your project.

Did you get Phase 2 funding, by the way, and if not, do you have an alternative funding source for further research work which you could access? (I read that your Phase 1 ended in June 2013)

Best regards,
Kim

Again, this is only "food for thoughts", to exchange ideas on algae production in cold climates, it is not already to susana-projects related:

August 2013: jena.otz.de/web/lokal/leben/detail/-/spe...effektive-1931818425
or
www.ingenieur.de/Themen/Forschung/Optimi...t-rotes-Licht-besser

see local newspaper in German language

"Red light therapy for green stuff"- efficient algae reactors
by University of Jena Prof. Wondraczek

...das Konzept gerade für Gegenden mit im Vergleich zum sonnenverwöhnten Süden geringerer Sonnen­einstrahlung geeignet, ergänzt er. Ein weiterer Vorteil der Innovation: Sie ist in geschlossenen Räumen anwendbar. Das eröffnet Möglichkeiten, die effektiven Reaktoren auch unter künstlicher Beleuchtung oder gar im Weltall fleißig Algen wachsen zu lassen.

...the concept is suitable for areas with lesser sunlight compared to the sun-drenched south, he added. Another advantage of the innovation: it is applicable to closed spaces. This opens up opportunities to leave the actual reactors hardworking algae grow under artificial lighting or even in space.

other German ongoing example in East-Hessen Germany: goo.gl/maps/SAVqW

Even under our cold German conditions, Algae production in heated tunnel reactor with effluent from wwtp and Co2 from Biogas-CHP to feed additional biomass to bio-gas digester at a farm:


Algenland GmbH is a spin-off by University Giessen www.uewag.de/unternehmen/innovation/biogas and www.uni-giessen.de/cms/fbz/fb09/institut...t/projekte/alg/algen


in short the developments around man made algae production are fast, even in cold climate areas at smaller scale them in USA...

Natalie

You have misunderstood our solution.
We are not asking you to add Diatoms to your ponds.
Our product will make the native Diatoms grow.

All natural ponds have diatoms but in nutrient rich conditions, Blue Green Algae grow faster. So when our product, which is a MICRO-nutrient mix, is a added the nutrients are balanced with micro nutrients and the diatoms that are available will grow.

So we too "are working with whatever algae naturally populate our ponds,.."

"and we plan to try to isolate and optimize the naturally favored strains."

The difference is that we have achieved species selection without isolating by just optimizing the micro nutrient availability.

Just add Nualgi and the NATIVE Diatoms will grow.

Nualgi inventor and manufacturer's website is www.nualgi.com/new

A recent report about use of Nualgi to deal with sewage -
in.reset.org/blog/nualgi-%E2%80%93-saviour-sewage-water

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the great comments and suggestions. I'm sorry for the delayed reply, but I wasn't getting notified about these posts, so I didn't know there was any interest!

I think some of you have answered each other's questions/comments, so I'll see if there is anything I can add.

Bhaskar, thanks for your suggestion to use Diatoms. I think this is a good idea, and we will look into it. Right now we are working with whatever algae naturally populate our ponds, and we plan to try to isolate and optimize the naturally favored strains. But we will certainly consider your suggestion.

Detlef - yes, using an insulated container and artificial lighting would certainly be a possibility for colder climates. Of course this will greatly increase the cost, but this could still be offset by the production of energy and the biomass. I believe that F H Mughal is making this point as well.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I will make sure to check back more often!

Natalie

Mr Mughal

You said -

"...green algae are able to achieve supersaturation with dissolved oxygen,....

It is known that in oxidation ponds, under warm and sunny weather, the wastewater treatment is accomplished relatively more quickly due to oxygenation work of algae.
...
However, the long detention in the system will render algae old and fat, which in turn, contribute cell material increasing the pond load."

We are advocating growing Diatom Algae, they give the same benefits of Green Algae but do not have the problems associated with Green Algae.

Diatoms grow even in low light conditions, due to their silica shell they require less light.

They are rapidly consumed by Zooplankton or flow out with the treated water, so do not accumulate in the pond and contribute to the organic load.

In oxidation ponds, the algae-bacteria symbiosis is well-known. Photosynthetic oxygenation is the production of oxygen through the action of light on the chloroplastic tissue (chlorophyll) of algae. In other words, algae are a free source of oxygen production. This happens in oxidation ponds located in warm climates.

In water bodies, green algae are able to achieve supersaturation with dissolved oxygen, which can be 4 times the normal saturation value of water, when in equilibrium with the atmosphere. It is known that in oxidation ponds, under warm and sunny weather, the wastewater treatment is accomplished relatively more quickly due to oxygenation work of algae. However, the long detention in the system will render algae old and fat, which in turn, contribute cell material increasing the pond load.

Pond variables that impact bacteria-algae symbiosis include retention times, characteristics and strength of wastewater, light intensity, temperature, bacterial and algal species involved, population dynamics, chlorophyll formation, rate of oxygenation and respiration.

Against that background, it is interesting to see Mr. Detlef’s research ideas of dark insulated/heated tank with stirring devices and adding LED lights. The only point I would like to make here is that, in my review above, oxygen provided by algae is free, while in Mr. Detlef’s work, it will be at a cost.

F H Mughal

Hi Natalie

We have a unique product to grow Diatom Algae in large ponds and lakes.
Diatoms would be ideal for your project.
They grow even in low light and are the best food for all types of Shrimp and Tilapia.

Our product - NUALGI - was invented for use in shrimp hatcheries and then we found that it worked even in the grow out ponds, eutrophic lakes and even in raw sewage.

Nualgi is invented in India and is being used in US in eutrophic lakes - www.nualgi.net

Thanks Julius for your thought and additional examples,

Again, this is only to exchange ideas, it is not already project related:

All project examples you mention and the project Natalie introduced to us are located in warm climate and using very large scale open & complex tube systems.

How about having smaller scale algae producing systems (biomass), i.e. in an original dark insulated/heated tank with stirring devices as we know from large agricultural biogas plants, i.e. in Europe:
- insulated/heated tank with stirring devices
- Adding LEDs to this standard biogas-plant. On the internet I found information about LEDs with the right light spectrum to have photosyntheses.
- Agricultural- or Sanitation- Digester + CHP with many "wast"-heat, its hot CHP exhaust have CO2 too.
- Using partly treated waste water to have still enough nutrients inside.

So we might have all the "cooking ingredients" together in a smaller pot and the needed light spectrum too

But maybe the total cost for cooking is to high in comparison to real results/profits...

Best Regards,
Detlef

P.S.: Project reminds me of this:
www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_trent_energy_...ting_algae_pods.html
and this:
www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/OMEGA/index.html

LEDs are not particularly good plant growing lights, but you could go for a HID lamp like those illegal hemp growers often do.

However in cold climatic areas it is not light what limits plant growth, but rather temperature and (as everywhere else) atmospheric CO2 content (now that we are at 400ppm plants actually grow a bit better :-/ ).

So putting these algae in a heated greenhouse and making sure the glass stays transparent (no inside dew / outside dust or snow) should do the trick.

There is actually a pilot plant near Cologne, where algae are grown on power-plant exhaust to get the needed heat and CO2. But that is obviously a carbon sequestration pilot.