Nutrient Capture System for Closed-Loop Aquaculture
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Solution Overview
Problem
The seafood industry faces challenges due to overfished oceans and unsustainable aquaculture practices, which rely heavily on grain and fishmeal for feed, leading to environmental pollution and contamination of marine food supplies, threatening the long-term sustainability of seafood production.
Innovation Solution
A modular apparatus that uses microbial biomass from harvested plant material degradation to produce food for fish and aquatic organisms, treating waste, and eliminating the need for fishmeal and grain, while integrating nutrient and waste management with renewable energy production, carbon sequestration, and bioremediation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If aquaculture relies heavily on fishmeal and grain for feed, then fish production can be maintained, but environmental pollution and contamination of marine food supplies increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces microbial biomass as an intermediary substance that converts plant material into fish feed. Instead of directly using grain and fishmeal, the system uses microorganisms to transform available plant resources into nutritious feed that fish can consume, thereby eliminating the need for grain and fishmeal while maintaining fish production
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the fundamental parameter of feed composition by replacing grain and fishmeal with microbially-produced biomass. This parameter change transforms the feed source from external agricultural products to in-system produced organic matter, eliminating the pollution associated with grain cultivation and fishmeal production
2Productivity
If aquaculture uses flow-through systems or cages in large bodies of water, then fish can be raised, but nutrient and organic wastes discharge causes eutrophication and oxygen depletion
Solution Approach 1:
The system makes the aquaculture operation self-sufficient by internally recycling all nutrients. Fish wastes are converted by microorganisms into new organic matter that feeds the fish, creating a closed loop where no nutrients leave the system. This eliminates the need to discharge wastes into external water bodies
Solution Approach 2:
The microbial biomass serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as fish feed, waste treatment agent, and nutrient recycling mechanism. This multi-functionality allows the system to maintain fish production while eliminating pollution, as the same biological process that creates feed also removes wastes
3Productivity
If aquaculture depends on grain supplies for feed, then fish production continues, but feed costs become disproportionately expensive with increases in grain and energy prices
Solution Approach 1:
The system produces its own feed internally through microbial conversion of plant material, making the operation self-sufficient. This eliminates dependence on external grain markets and their price fluctuations, as the feed is generated within the system itself from available carbon sources
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the economic parameter by transforming feed from a purchased commodity to an internally produced resource. This parameter change fundamentally alters the cost structure, replacing variable market-dependent grain costs with fixed operational costs of running the microbial conversion system
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system enables sustainable fish production without environmental contamination, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and sequesters carbon, providing a long-term solution for seafood production by utilizing microbial biomass and organic substrates to create a closed-loop aquaculture system.
Implementation Method 1
The apparatus generates a microbial biomass from the degradation of harvested plant material and nutrient substrates
Implementation Method 2
uses this microbial biomass to generate and provide food for the fish and aquatic organisms, and to treat the wastes produced by the fish and aquatic organisms
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a tank having a body of water, the tank having a submerged plant material zone having plant material submerged within the body of water. The apparatus also includes an irrigated plant material platform, including additional plant material which is separated from the submerged plant material. The apparatus further includes an animal raising zone in fluid communication with at least a portion of the body of water, the animal raising zone separated from the submerged plant material zone by a porous filter. The apparatus includes a tank influent stream for passing water through the plant material zone and subsequently through the animal raising zone. The system includes a recycle loop having a pump disposed within the animal raising zone for pumping a waste product from the animal raising zone to the irrigated plant material platform. The animal raising zone may be a fish raising zone.