7 ms·
This is quite interesting for improving indoor air quality as well. We know high levels of CO2 cause a cognitive decrease. Maybe the solution is a bioreactor in
by SomaticPirate 6y ago
This is quite interesting for improving indoor air quality as well. We know high levels of CO2 cause a cognitive decrease. Maybe the solution is a bioreactor in every meeting room?
- deegles 6y agoSomeone would have to do the math on how much spirulina + light you’d need to process e.g. a conference room’s worth of adult’s CO2
- Palomides 6y agoenough algae to balance out one person's daily CO2 generation is in the hundreds of gallons, it's a fun idea but wildly impractical compared to opening a window or using a fan
- uppopallo 6y agoActually not that much: The russian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS-3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS-3 experiment tested this in the 70's, and found that given sufficient illumination, 17 litres of Chlorella Vulgaris algae are sufficient to provide oxygen for one person and scrub the exhaled CO_2 from the air. The talk about spacecraft life support systems linked below (https://media.ccc.de/v/rc3-158638-how_to_survive_in_spacecraft https://media.ccc.de/v/rc3-158638-how_to_survive_in_spacecra...) gives a thorough overview over the possibilities for plant-based oxygen generation.
- Palomides 6y agoI'm kinda skeptical about 17 liters but don't have the time to dig into the literature, so I'll just say that the number I gave is second-hand but seems well-founded of course there are lots of factors, especially with illumination/surface area
- nkingsy 6y agoNot sure of the math but I had about 17 liters of grow medium, 2w of air pumps, and 50w of leds 24/7 and was producing a shocking amount of biomass. Also, fresh spirulina is most comparable to tofu. Very little flavor, gag-worthy sponge-like texture. Was trying to make fish feed but had to eat most of it myself as the fish and the dog wouldn’t touch it. Shut down the operation after a few harvests. Mine was kept warm by sitting on top of a water reservoir that water cooled other grow lights for my main indoor garden, but keeping it warm would be the major cost in most climates, as it grows best in 90 deg F water.
- dvh 6y agoBlack soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are used to compost waste or convert the waste into animal feed. Fly larvae are among the most efficient animals at converting feed into biomass.
- lazylizard 6y agowhat fish?
- labawi 6y agoAt 8 MJ (2000 kcal) / day = 90W (average) diet, to scrub CO₂ you would need to bind about that much energy on average¹. Assuming optimistic 50% LED efficiency and 90% algae efficiency², you would need at least about 90W/50W / 0.5 / 0.9 = 4x as much production. So your setup could not scrub a typical person's CO₂. Nevertheless, fully optimized 17l of algae do seem believable, if well cared for. ¹ ignoring diet levels and differing CO₂ / H₂O ratio for fat vs. carbs etc. ² no idea how efficient algae are, but wikipedia says they are very efficient
- elric 6y agoDefine "high levels"?
- baybal2 6y agoMore likely a calcium hydroxide, or a lithium scrubber, as amine scrubbers will make you smell like a submariner.