Overview
Working as a part of the Tester Lab under the oversight of Dr. Kui Wang, we are using a reactor within an environment that we designed in Snee Hall to place post- digestate waste from the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWWTF) under high temperature and pressure to produce useful biosolids and liquids. ▪ Post-digestate waste is solid by-product that comes from the IAWWTF’s anaerobic digestor.
o With temperature, water-to-digestate, acidity, pretreatmentmethod, and residence time as our primary variables, we hope to create a reaction surface that will detail the optimal conditions under which post-digestate waste may be converted to useful materials. ▪ We hope that this research will then serve as the foundation for further explorations into the upscaling of HTP and its potential usefulness as a mechanism by which to reclaim even further amounts of energy from our waste. ▪ At present there have been only explorative research into HTP using base products such as simple forms of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. ▪ Our research will thus serve as an important proving ground for this highly pertinent application of the process. o At present, we are executing experiments while varying the conditions. ▪ To streamline this process, our team is utilizing the software MiniTab to create a Design of Experiment that will allow us to collect the data points necessary most effectively for generating an accurate reaction surface.
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