Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Catalytic oxidation reactive filtration: We worked on designing a new water treatment technology visiting with regional stakeholders that included dairy commissions, water user associations, industrial water users, regulatory agency officials and tribal stakeholders. We integrated these cooperators into co-design of our new technology by asking for their project support. Several letters of project commitment were received. We worked with ourUS based and international technology licensees in the planned 2016 deployment of our Catalytic oxidation reactive filtration water treatment technology, marketed as BlueCAT, the first ever 300 gallon per minute pilot process scale up in Horwich England. We partnered with an Idaho start-up water treatment technology business to help advance on next generation water treatment technology that we call N-E-W Tech(tm), innovation at the nutrient, energy, and water nexus. With cooperating regional business entities in the field of water treatment, we presented our new research and ideas for cross-discussion of engineering potential in scale-up to a process size appropriate to municipal and industrial operations need. We were invited to two industry forums in water treatment: 1) a live video web conference on emerging technologies for water reuse and recycling that was attended by about 200 managers/directors from the food processing industry; and 2) a Water Environment Federation invited "Leaders Innovation Forum for Technology (LIFT)" emerging technology accelerator program in Manhattan, NY that hosted about 150 leaders in the field of water treatment technology. In our 2015 design, build and operate trial of our N-E-W Tech(tm) water treatment trailer, we hosted over 450 visitors including STEM Ed high school students and teachers (40), visiting elected officials (10), agency representatives (25), engineers and scientists (150), and community members (175). Teaching sustainability: Sustainability courseware was updated with new lectures and toxicology lectures were in pre- production for Fall 2015 initial course use. The open web presentation of these materials allows for unlimited outreach and access by the informal learning community. About 100 formally enrolled students took the Principles of Sustainability course in the reporting period. An invited sustainability lecture was delivered to the Intermountain Energy Summit at the DOE Idaho National Laboratory to the 300 guests from the agency, engineering, academic and elected official sectors in attendance. Changes/Problems:A transfer of personnel and activity focus away from Goal 2 (Acoustic biofuel) toward Goal 1 results from the very large, nearly $500K,12 month funding support received for Goal 1, comprised of the development ofN-E-W Tech™. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?TRAINING ACTIVITIES:Five senior engineering students in their design capstone course participated in the design and build operations forN-E-W Tech™.Two graduate students are exploring the water quality engineering and energy efficiency ofN-E-W Tech™. Four undergraduate engineering students have undertaken the task of building a small scale process model ofN-E-W Tech™ for entry in a National undergraduateengineering challenge:WERC: A Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?DISSEMINATION OFRESULTS: N-E-W Tech™ has been visited by about 400 individuals during static demonstrations at conferences and by work site visits. Visitors included STEM ED students and teachers, elected officials, agency representatives, engineers and scientists, and members of the community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?NEAR FUTURE ACTIVITIES:We plan to continue testing and development ofN-E-W Tech™ focusing on final water product quality for unrestricted reuse, process energy efficiency, and writing grant proposals to do site based field work at representative degraded waters of opportunity such as dairy lagoon water, food processors wastewater, municipal wastewater and degraded waters targeted for irrigation.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
IMPACT: Intensification of resource recovery is a global prime mandate for sustainability. The trajectory of increasing population and increasing resource demand for water and food security create an innovation imperative for sustainability in the context of the Food-Energy-Water nexus. Addressing this innovation imperative requires transdisciplinary thinking, creative systems approaches, and translational research products that address the grand challenges of our shared future. We accelerated the capacity of the United States to meet near-term and future water needs by executing a mid-2015 design-build of our novel, patent pending wastewater treatment technology. This scalable technology advances water reuse and recycling, bioenergy and carbon sequestration, as well as nutrient recovery and aquatic pollution mitigation. Described in the "thought experiment" of our 2013 patent application "Biochar Water Treatment," we call this novel technology "N-E-W Tech™ - innovating at the nutrient, energy and water nexus". IMPACT: In April 2015, we received a 12-month, $427,000 award from the Idaho Department of Commerce's global entrepreneurial mission program to execute the design-build and initial demonstration of a 15 gallon per minute N-E-W Tech™ mobile water treatment trailer. This was followed in August 2015 by a 12-month, $61,000 award from the same program to perform greenhouse trials that explore the Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizer (EEF) value of the N/P upcycled biochar recovered from the N-E-W Tech™ process. We call the upcycled biochar water treatment residual, "N-E-W Terra™." Initialization of N-E-W Tech™ as an integrated water treatment and nutrient recovery process commenced in August 2015 at the municipal waste water plant next to the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Our preliminary results validate major hypothesized process dynamics and outcomes articulated in our patent application. To continue to develop this technology, we are developing mechanistic information about the reaction processes and competing processes in various water types occurring between modified biochar, N and P. By designing and building the 15 gallon per minute, 9 ton, 40 footN-E-W Tech™ water treatment process trailer, we successfully demonstrated the proof-of-concept articulated in our 2013 US and International patentapplication. In initial patent office actions, all 84 claims received an initial review of "novel." Clean water is central to public health, environmental quality and the economic well-being of the United States. Total freshwater and saline-water withdrawals for 2010 were estimated to be 355 billion gallons per day, with 46 billion gallons per day for domes­tic use, 21 billion gallons per day for indus­trial and mining use, 126 billion gallons per day for use in agriculture and 161 billion gallons per day for thermoelectric power plants. In 2014, 40 of 50 state water managers expected water shortages in the next 10 years. The U.S west and southwest continues in a pattern of widespread drought of historic proportions. Phosphorus is required for food security, yet mineral resources are limited with significant reserves isolated in only a few countries around the globe (USGS 2015). Increasing human population drives increasing demand for food, fiber, biofuel and other agricultural products. Phosphorus is a key soil nutrient in agriculture, sustaining plant and animal growth. Intensive agriculture requires input and replacement of nutrient phosphorus--as harvest removes soil phosphorus--and food or fiber distribution transports it from local ecosystems. Phosphorus is returned to soil as fertilizer or amendment. It is a mined from the Earth's finite rock phosphate mineral reserves or replaced by land application of manures or treated human waste. The United States Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2015 projects world consumption of P2O5 fertilizers of 42.2 Mt in 2014 would increase to 45.9 Mt in 2018.Florida, North Carolina, Idaho and Utah produce the majority of phosphate fertilizer in the U.S. where import reliance is currently about 15% of total consumption. With global reserves at 300 billion tons of phosphate rock, concerns that global phosphorus demand will outstrip supplies within the next several decades have increased demand for practical and economically feasible approaches for phosphorus reuse and recycling for food security. Nitrogen fertilizer, primarily produced as ammonia, uses fossil fuel methane as the starting material in the Haber-Bosch process. While increases in global methane supplies have resulted from new approaches to extraction, supplies are finite and therefore considered non-sustainable in the long term. Renewable energy has a pathway in ammonia production; however it is not economically competitive at present. Microbial processes can produce methane and ammonia, and thus present a pathway for sustainable nitrogenous fertilizer for global food production. The impact of nutrient pollution from phosphorus and nitrogen on the nation's waters is significant. The estimated annual cost of nutrient pollution in the United States in freshwater is greater than $2.2 billion. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyfound that about 40% of stream miles in the United States had elevated phosphorus levels, and 27% had elevated nitrogen levels. The National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment Update has estimated that nutrient pollution has had a moderate to high impact in 65% of the coastal areas observed. The source of pollution includes point sources, non-point sources such as agriculture runoff and air deposition, storm water runoff, and sewer overflows. ACTIVITIES COMPLETED: Goal 1: N-E-W Tech™ water treatment process trailer designed, built and operated for the first time at a municipal wastewater plant and at a dairy lagoon. Critical operational and engineering data acquired. Programmable logic controller designed and built. Continuous municipal water plant run of 6 hours at 13 gallons per minute demonstrating water quality outcomes. Worked with two companies to advance N-E-W Tech™ andN-E-W Terra™.Our catalytic oxidation water treatment technology was designed and advanced through build-out in Horwich Englandfunded by the British government. Goal 2: Supplanted by funding obtained in Goal 1. Goal 3: The novel "lectures filmed as documentaries" approach forwarded in the course Principles of Sustainability was a key accomplishment in receiving the2014 APLU/USDA NIFA National Excellence in Food and Agriculture Teaching Award. Several of the lecture documentaries were picked up by the People's Weather Channel in Africa and were broadcast across the entire African continent in June to celebrate Environment Month. One of the broadcasts was "Sustainable Agriculture." Over 100 formally enrolled upper division and graduate students took the course during the 2014/15 academic year. Several lecture updates and new supporting material was developed.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
G. M�ller and C.J. Strain, N-E-W Tech": Innovating at the Nutrient, Energy and Water Nexus. Water Environment Research Foundation, Leaders Innovation Forum for Technology (LIFT). New York, NY. August 10, 2015. Invited.
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The sustainability, food toxicology and environmental toxicology courses serve distance students across the US. These include students enrolled in formal degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The asynchronous learning network allows those students with challenges in works or life that limit residential campus education to achieve their learning goals. The courses serve student enrolled in the WSU MS in Agriculture; WSU MS Agriculture - Food Science and Management; UI MNR (Master's in Natural Resources); UI EnvS MS and BS; UI/WSU SFS BS and MS in Food Science; UI PSM (Professional Science Master's) Environmental Science and Natural Resources; UI BA in Bioregional Planning; and UI BA in International Studies. Principles of Sustainability, a next-generation online open course, are a digital walkabout on the advanced concepts, principles, and issues of sustainability. This PowerPoint-free course is comprised of about 40 cinematic doculectures filmed in HD and surround-sound. Doculectures, scored to music, capture the information intensity of a well-developed university lecture, but with the dynamic sights, sounds and warmth of a documentary film. Over 100 filmmakers, scholars, and students from across the globe collaborated on the course. The course Principles of Sustainability [FS/EnvS 436/536 (3 cr) http://webpages.uidaho.edu/sustainability ] addresses fundamental technical information on issues and processes in sustainability; resource management, waste generation and management; the built environment; industrial approaches to sustainability; sustainable agriculture; energy sustainability; water sustainability; measuring sustainability; life cycle assessment/sustainability impact assessment; and case studies. This upper division/graduate conjoint course is normalized for students of all degree major backgrounds. Environmental toxicology is the study of the nature, properties, effects and detection of toxic substances in the environment and in any environmentally exposed species, including humans. The course Principles of Environmental Toxicology [FS/EnvS 409/509 (3 cr) http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/etox/ ] addresses environmental toxicology history, toxicology concepts, dose-response, toxicant absorption, distribution and storage, biotransformation, target organ toxicology, teratogenesis, mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, abiotic transformations, ecological biochemistry, pesticides in the environment, endocrine disruption, environmental chemodynamics, environmental transport, pesticides in the environment, environmental law and regulation, and special topics. Food toxicology is the study of the nature, properties, effects, and detection of toxic substances in food, and their disease manifestation in humans. The course Food Toxicology [FS 464/564 (3 cr) http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/foodtox/ ] addresses food regulation history, toxicology concepts, pesticides in food, genetically modified organisms in food, toxic mold and mycotoxins, food ecology, natural toxins in plants and fungi, etiologic role of natural toxicants in food borne disease, bacterial toxigenesis, food allergy, food additives, animal drug residues, and human food chain contaminants. These courses are an open educational resource (OER), produced under Creative Commons copyright release. As a pedagogy example and as a formal or informal learning resource, these courses have been used globally. The Food Toxicology course web site has been the number one Google search result for that sub-discipline term for over a decade. This has projected these courses and analysis as a research-based resource for media outlets such as Consumer Reports (food additives), Fox News (safety of grilled food), and the Dr. Oz TV program (drug residues in meat). The reactive filtration water treatment technologies serve communities and industries located near impaired natural waters that require high efficiency N & P removal and the companies and construction firms that install these technologies. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The sustainabilty and toxicology course web sites are open educational resources that are accessed about 2000 time per week in 80+ countries. About 130 upper division undergraduate and graduate students formally enrolled in these courses in 2013. The journal articles and patent are accessible to researchers and the technology community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The Bifunctional Biochar Reactive Filtration technology will be applied in a formal research proposal. The sustainability, food toxicology, and environmental toxiology courses will be updated with new lectures and content.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Summary: Engineering design and development of a tertiary wastewater treatment process to remove trace chemicals of emerging concern, such as hormones and antibiotic residues, as well as nutrients like phosphorus. Situation: Nutrient impacts on surface water from point sources continue to challenge environmental quality. Other work over the last 15 years has shown that many bioactive micropollutants such as pharmaceutical and personal care products escape municipal wastewater treatment process, and are released into natural waters. There compounds are now regularly detected in surface and sometimes groundwaters, and some have been shown to cycle into drinking water. Wildlife in and near aquatic ecosystems impacted by discharged wastewater have been shown to have biochemical and physiological effects including feminization of males. There are also concerns for croplands irrigated by treated wastewater and from dairy lagoon waters. Nutrient removal from wastewater is an ongoing concern due to surface water quality concerns and regulatory compliance. Regulated dischargers in highly nutrient impacted area require low cost, high efficiency removal of nutrients from wastewater. Response: Three patents were issued for a novel reactive filtration water treatment process (Möller, G. and Newcombe, R. Water Treatment Method. US Patent 8,080,163; December 20, 2011; Möller, G., Brackney, K., Hart, B., Newcombe, R., Korus, R. Reactive Filtration. US Patent 7,713,423; May 11, 2010; Möller, G., Brackney, K., Hart, B., Newcombe, R., Korus, R. Reactive Filtration. US Patent 7,399,416; July 15, 2008). These works teach a new approach for very low nutrient removal that is cost effective and efficient, at demonstrated water treatment rates of millions of gallons per day. In November 2013 a reissued patent added additional claims. Two additional patents were issued for a novel catalytic oxidation water treatment process. (Möller, G. Reactive Filtration. US Patent 7,744,764; June 29, 2010, Möller, G. Reactive Filtration. US Patent 7,445,721; November 4, 2008). These technologies were licensed to industry. We completed an exploratory 10 gpm trial of catalytic oxidation was conducted. Preliminary findings suggest promise for efficient economic operation. We are exploring this approach to also develop high efficiency P removal in algae laden water. We are still seeking funding for a full scale catalytic oxidation project, although some aspects of the technology have been placed into commercial water treatment. A patent reissue with expanded claims was drafted; USPTO RE44,570. Impact: The reactive technology is in commercial practice across the US and in several foreign countries. Over one million people across the globe are now served by this technology. The technology is deployed for treatment rates exceeding 10 million gallons per day, and also at the municipal wastewater treatment plant with the lowest total P discharge permit in the United States. The work was recognized in 2009 by the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal, the highest research award by the international Water Environment Federation (over 70,000 members worldwide), and appeared on a list of 25 Innovations That Changed the World produced by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). The patents are licensed by Blue Water Technologies (BWT) of Hayden, ID, a UI tech-transfer water treatment technology company with 25 employees and $6-8M in annual revenues. BWT has installed the technology at municipal wastewater treatment facilities and industrial plants. Goal 2: A provisional patent for Bifunctional Biochar Reactive Filtration was filed. A ideation proposal was filed for the "Nutrient Challenge" sponsored by USDA, USEPA, NOAA, The Everglades Foundation, and Tulane University. Goal 3: Situation: Sustainability is a broad area of inquiry, rapidly changing as we develop new knowledge on human practices that are more sustainable or less sustainable. Seek a hard vision of sustainability and you will surely be disappointed. Our gaps in knowledge are great, but the task of growing a more sustainable global community is greater. We are faced with immense challenges that grow greater by the day. The social, political, economic, and environmental complexity of the task often confounds and defeats simplistic approaches, yet many of our solutions will lie in a simplification of our approach to community and commerce. Crafting a sustainable present and future has all the elements of a "super wicked problem" (Levin et al., 2007): Time is running out. No central authority. Those seeking to solve the problem are also causing it. Hyperbolic discounting occurs. Impact: The Creative Commons 3.0 licensed doculectures are loaded almost 2000 times per week in 80+ countries across the globe. The course site is already the Google search rank #1 (of 36 million) for the disciplinary important term “principles of sustainability,” and #1 or 2 (of 122 million) for the search term “sustainability course”. The course site has 8 of the top 10 search results for the term “doculecture” – the title of this experimental pedagogy. In their positive review of the course, "Teaching Sustainability in an Unsustainable World", PBS and Scientific American Films producers wrote: "And if sustainability is hard to learn about, just imagine what it's like to teach people - young people, at that - how to better understand and develop a sustainable economic infrastructure in world with so many highly unsustainable systems in place. How do you tell them what they need to know when so much of the information that contextualizes each issue is either inaccessibly technical or under-informed and biased?" The Chapter One Part Six doculecture, “A Planet in Peril” won the prestigious El Capitan Award from the Yosemite International Film Festival in 2011 and a Bronze Telly Award in 2012. The premiere of the course was well received by students: "World class course; this class is amazingly well developed; excellent combination of hard and soft sciences; great use of the humanities to engage students; made learning a lot of information engaging and easy; preferred this course over my live courses; I retained much more than usual, and I believe this is because the delivery appeals to multiple learning styles; one strength was the coordination between course elements, which often is much more disjointed and inconvenient to navigate; greatest strength of the content was the fair and realistic treatment of the topics; very well rounded and well informed; this instructor will leave a legacy of transforming education and expanding hard core distance learning to pop culture."
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Bartrem, C., Tirima, S., Von Lindern, I., Von Braun, M. Worrell, M., Mohammad Anka, S, Abdullahi, A, and M�ller, G. 2013. Unknown risk: co-exposure to lead and other heavy metals among children living in small-scale mining communities in Zamfara State, Nigeria. International Journal of Environmental Health DOI:10.1080/09603123.2013.835028
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Golmohamadi, A., M�ller, G., Powers, J.R., Nindo, C.I. 2013. Effect of ultrasound frequency on antioxidant activity, total phenolic and anthocyanin content of red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) puree. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 20(5):1316-23
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
USPTO Patent Issue RE44,570: Reactive Filtration;; November 5, 2013
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Teaching Sustainability: Principles of Sustainability is a global online open course that uses multiple modes of new media to inform and inspire students. Normalized for upper division/graduate students of any disciplinary background, cinematic HD/surround-sound doculectures in each of the fifty learning areas form the basis of this experimental pedagogy. A doculecture is a PowerPointfree presentation, formalized in content, and supported with media such as subject supportive film, photographs, animations, music, and text. The approach couples the information intensity of a university lecture with the audiovisual warmth and dynamics of a documentary film. The course leverages our understanding of the cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory and uses dynamic imagery, sounds, and virtual spacial effects. Over 100 filmmakers and scholars across the globe, and numerous students, contributed to the course. Eleven doculectures were the result of collaborations with CA higher education faculty. Available on computers, smartphones, video game consoles, streaming media players, and IPTV, the Creative Commons 3.0 licensed materials are loaded almost 2000 times per week in 80+ countries. Principles of Sustainability is designed as a digital peripatetic. Using modern digital technology, this course attempts to leverage the insight and observations, the images and the sounds, and the knowledge and understanding of our global partners in sustainability to help our students master the challenges and opportunities ahead. Modern digital media resources can capture the sights and sounds of our increasingly globalized world far better than a static PowerPoint bullet. The course is a digital journey of imagery, imagination, and the peer-reviewed factual reality of our past, present, and potential futures. Sustainability is challenging and teaching it is perhaps more so. This new pedagogy represents a response to the challenge of a positive, sustainable future, and cultivating and inspiring the practical vision of the students who will get us there. The pathway to progress towards a more sustainable future is the development of a better understanding of the interrelated systems of the world. In their positive review of the course, "Teaching Sustainability in an Unsustainable World", PBS and Scientific American Films producers wrote: "And if sustainability is hard to learn about, just imagine what it's like to teach people - young people, at that - how to better understand and develop a sustainable economic infrastructure in world with so many highly unsustainable systems in place. How do you tell them what they need to know when so much of the information that contextualizes each issue is either inaccessibly technical or under-informed and biased" The course attempts to synthesize linkages and commonalities of understanding through an exploration of the major elements in the field, using new media, scholarly readings, and student assessment through critical case analysis and writing. PARTICIPANTS: Over 100 filmmakers and scholars across the globe, and numerous students, contributed to the course. TARGET AUDIENCES: The next generation upper division/graduate course Principles of Sustainability premiered Fall semester 2011 with 18 students from the University of Idaho and Washington State University, and 42 students enrolled in Spring 2012, near the maximum capacity. Available on computers, smartphones, video game consoles, streaming media players, and IPTV, the Creative Commons 3.0 licensed materials are loaded almost 2000 times per week by formal and informal learners in 80+ countries. Course development workflow and production details have been posted online in MERLOT for practitioners (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The next generation upper division/graduate course Principles of Sustainability premiered Fall semester 2011 with 18 students from the University of Idaho and Washington State University, and 42 students enrolled in Spring 2012, near maximum capacity. The Creative Commons 3.0 licensed materials are loaded by informal learners almost 2000 times per week in 80+ countries and they are available on computers, smart phones, video game consoles, streaming media players, and IPTV. Course development workflow and production details have been posted online in MERLOT for practitioners (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). Student course evaluation comments: "World class course; This class is amazingly well developed; Excellent combination of hard and soft sciences. Great use of the humanities to engage students; Made learning a lot of information engaging and easy; Preferred this course over my live courses; I retained much more than usual, and I believe this is because the delivery appeals to multiple learning styles; One strength was the coordination between course elements, which often is much more disjointed and inconvenient to navigate; Greatest strength of the content was the fair and realistic treatment of the topiCS. Very well rounded and well informed; This instructor will leave a legacy of transforming education and expanding hard core distance learning to pop culture." The course is google search engine page rank #1 for "principles of sustainability". The course doculecture "A Planet in Peril" won the El Capitan Award at the 2011 Yosemite International Film Festival. A conference abstract "Principles of Sustainability: A Case Study in Global Crowdsourcing a Cinematic Doculecture Course for a Global Audience of Learners" has been submitted to the CA Higher Education Sustainability Conference 2012.
Publications
- Moller, G. and Newcombe, R. Water Treatment Method. US Patent 8,080,163; December 2011
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