Zeno Swijtink
05-28-2008, 02:04 PM
Climate Innovation Invitational
https://www.icleiactionsummit.org/index.php?id=7486
Congratulations to Santa Rosa, California, winner of the 2008 Climate Innovation Invitational! The city was honored for their cutting-edge Aquatic Biomass to Fuel project, one of 29 entries. The award was presented Thursday night, May 15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the ICLEI Local Action Summit.
Winner:
• Santa Rosa, CA - Aquatic Biomass to Fuel
2nd Place:
• Austin, TX - Zero Energy Capable Homes (ZECH)
3rd Place (Tie):
• Chicago, IL - Wast-to-Profit Network
• Ashland, OR - Solar Pioneer II
*
Winner:
Santa Rosa, CA – Aquatic Biomass to Fuel
The City of Santa Rosa’s Aquatic Biomass to Fuel project (ABF) is designed to demonstrate a way for municipalities and agriculturalists to meet impending regulations while treating wastewater in an environmentally sound and economically sensible manner.
The primary innovation of ABF is the combination of a variety of inexpensive technologies to create cycles within cycles of pollution reduction and energy production. ABF’s unique design of channelized wetlands breaks new ground, as does the harvesting of aquatic vegetation grown in wastewater for methane production. Our aquatic vegetation is selected for a combination of ease of harvesting and nutrient removal, and our use of algal mats for these reasons is an important innovation. Much research has focused on the use of planktonic algae for nutrient removal, but the harvesting step is extremely energy intensive, involving centrifugation, and this adversely changes the energy balance of the whole procedure. Additionally, the method of non-food crop biodiesel production we are investigating, in situ transesterification, is a novel technique under investigation by the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. It has not been previously applied to aquatic vegetation, and holds much promise.
Due to the simplicity of the technology involved, it will be easy for other communities to adopt this program. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) has recently awarded the City a grant to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. Upon completion, we intend to facilitate the transfer of this technology to both wastewater treatment facilities and agriculturists, thus magnifying the greenhouse gas reductions achieved by this technology. If implemented throughout California, we estimate that this technology could reduce GHG emissions by 80,000 tons each year.
https://www.icleiactionsummit.org/index.php?id=7486
Congratulations to Santa Rosa, California, winner of the 2008 Climate Innovation Invitational! The city was honored for their cutting-edge Aquatic Biomass to Fuel project, one of 29 entries. The award was presented Thursday night, May 15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the ICLEI Local Action Summit.
Winner:
• Santa Rosa, CA - Aquatic Biomass to Fuel
2nd Place:
• Austin, TX - Zero Energy Capable Homes (ZECH)
3rd Place (Tie):
• Chicago, IL - Wast-to-Profit Network
• Ashland, OR - Solar Pioneer II
*
Winner:
Santa Rosa, CA – Aquatic Biomass to Fuel
The City of Santa Rosa’s Aquatic Biomass to Fuel project (ABF) is designed to demonstrate a way for municipalities and agriculturalists to meet impending regulations while treating wastewater in an environmentally sound and economically sensible manner.
The primary innovation of ABF is the combination of a variety of inexpensive technologies to create cycles within cycles of pollution reduction and energy production. ABF’s unique design of channelized wetlands breaks new ground, as does the harvesting of aquatic vegetation grown in wastewater for methane production. Our aquatic vegetation is selected for a combination of ease of harvesting and nutrient removal, and our use of algal mats for these reasons is an important innovation. Much research has focused on the use of planktonic algae for nutrient removal, but the harvesting step is extremely energy intensive, involving centrifugation, and this adversely changes the energy balance of the whole procedure. Additionally, the method of non-food crop biodiesel production we are investigating, in situ transesterification, is a novel technique under investigation by the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. It has not been previously applied to aquatic vegetation, and holds much promise.
Due to the simplicity of the technology involved, it will be easy for other communities to adopt this program. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) has recently awarded the City a grant to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. Upon completion, we intend to facilitate the transfer of this technology to both wastewater treatment facilities and agriculturists, thus magnifying the greenhouse gas reductions achieved by this technology. If implemented throughout California, we estimate that this technology could reduce GHG emissions by 80,000 tons each year.