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  • KU choral chant

  • soft music

  • Emily: This goes back to high school.

  • So I was taking an environmental science class

  • and we talked about algae for about a week

  • and I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard

  • - using algae to fuel cars.

  • When I got to KU and I took a class

  • and Belinda visited our class,

  • she talked about the algae

  • at the wastewater treatment plant

  • and what she was doing.

  • I knew I wanted to work with her.

  • Belinda: This would be a really typical lagoon

  • in western Kansas, so what we'll do is sample

  • and hopefully have enough

  • that we can create meaningful biofuel.

  • Emily: As I've been working here,

  • we've gotten the greenhouse,

  • we've gotten the raceway ponds

  • so we can do large-scale experiments.

  • The end result with growing algae in the greenhouse

  • is we get cleaner water from the algae

  • and then we get a concentrated algal mass

  • to turn into biofuel.

  • upbeat music

  • Belinda: All of my students amaze me.

  • I will pop into the lab at random times.

  • I'm at home and I remember something

  • and I need to come in and I will see students there.

  • An undergraduate like Emily, who's been working in my lab

  • for two years, she knows how I like research

  • to be conducted and she thinks independently.

  • At this point, I wish I could just keep them forever.

  • Emily: What I'm adding is an algae media

  • and it just has nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus,

  • other things that not only help the algae grow,

  • but mimic the composition of wastewater

  • and that's the key component to growing algae

  • off of wastewater is to see if it will remove that nitrogen

  • and phosphorus that we don't want in the water.

  • It starts off a light tint of green and over time

  • this will just turn darker and darker.

  • In the course of a week, it will be really dark green.

  • So once this algae is really dense,

  • we will hose it into a large centrifuge

  • which will spin it very quickly.

  • It will capture the algae within and the water

  • will be discharged out another hose - completely fresh water.

  • The algae will be kind of a toothpaste consistency,

  • and we can run tests on it - see how good of algae it is,

  • turn it into fuel, and test those properties.

  • Susan: The Feedstock to Tailpipe initiative

  • is really unique because it brings together faculty

  • and scientists and students.

  • With our group here, at KU, we have expertise in the growth

  • and utilizing wastewater for growing the algae

  • and the conversion of that biomass into higher value products

  • and then the utilization of the oil or the fuels we produce

  • in engines so we really can understand the entire range

  • and how it all works together.

  • Emily: That's one of the aspects

  • - is trying to make a process that is low tech,

  • that can be done maybe in rural areas.

  • Like in western Kansas, if they have these lagoons,

  • they could implement a process like this

  • - growing algae to remove that nitrogen phosphorus.

  • dramatic inspiring music

  • The thing I enjoy most is starting these ponds

  • and then coming in every day

  • because they wouldn't be here if it weren't for me

  • and if I didn't feed them.

  • I'm making sure these algae are doing well

  • and they're growing up good and strong

  • for us to make fuel.

  • music ends

KU choral chant

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B2 中高級

科大學生種植海藻,用於生物燃料和清潔水源 (KU students grow algae for biofuel, cleaner water)

  • 82 13
    richardwang 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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