Component #1 Prepare a 200- to 300-word history about the National Critical Technology’s technical application the team has selected. Sewage treatment plants have experienced an evolution in their design and purpose throughout the past few decades. They have developed from unstable processors of human waste to advanced waste treatment centers with new high-tech methane conversion devices greatly contributing to the earth’s ecological stability. From the beginning of the industrial revolution and the mass influx of people to the cities, there has been an ever-growing need for waste management. In the beginning, waste was left to decay and fester in the streets, where it developed into a serious health hazard. As time went on, however, new systems of dealing with human waste arose. One of the first known times humans created a system to deal with their waste was more than 4,000 years ago. Residents of the island of Crete built a palace that included a fresh water supply, a complete sewage system and even wooden-seated flushing toilets. (Roto Rooter Plumbers) Over time civilizations slowly perfected the process of dealing with municipal waste. In the past, many sewage plants have had problems complying with environmental standards with regard to capacity and the need for expansion. When the flow of raw sewage exceeds the plant's capacity, they have often resorted to dumping partially treated or raw sewage into bodies of water as a means of disposing it (Deer Island). Even when a plant is running under ideal conditions it is often acceptable to bury the treated sludge in landfills or use it as a component in organic fertilizers both of which often lead to nitrogen runoff when it rains. Or surplus effluent can be released back into the environment through Class I (classes) injection wells. (injection wells) Today, humans have created a very sophisticated system to deal with municipal waste. As a result of better and more thorough processing, the amount of remaining sludge and the concentration of nitrogen in it are greatly reduced. In fact, the effluent that is discharged from modern local treatment plants is often cleaner than the water already there (Brad Taylor). Now, substances formerly viewed as simple dross have now become prospective resources. The technology is now available to use sludge that comes out of the primary and secondary clarifiers to create methane, a very useful fuel. It may be possible to utilize all that is now seeming useless in the near future. Cite three detailed examples of research done in the past 3 to 5 years which focused on the NCT application the team selected. Include: the funding agency, the principal investigator, the institution where the research is or was being conducted, the amount of the dollar award granted for the research, and the duration of the research grant. Our project deals with the effects of biomass byproducts upon the environment and proposes a means of reducing the impact of human waste upon our ecosystem. We have compiled a list of grants which demonstrate prior research and support towards the use of biomass in a constructive manner. The first grant was given to the United Nations Development Program, headed by Mark Malloch Brown (Jennifer Hidalgo), for the fabrication of a state-of-the-art biopower village that would commercially produce electricity for the rural inhabitants of northeast China. (Modernized Biomass Energy in China) The grant totaled $1,240,000 provided over a three-year period beginning in January 1999. In June 1998, the provincial government of Ontario provided an $82,114 grant for the construction of a sewage treatment plant in the town of Cobalt . This is the first installment for the project given under the Provincial Water Protection Fund through Environment Minister Norm Sterling. The grant will ultimately total up to $3,729,578, provided until the project reaches completion. (Canada Sterling Grant) In India, the United Nations funded a research project attempting to commercialize a process by which electricity can be generated through the use of biomass. The Department of Economic and Social Affairs headed by Nitin Desai (Jennifer Hidalgo) will be using the $370,660 grant with the Indian government's cooperation from May 1999 until the project's completion. (Electricity from Biomass for Rural India) Based upon research conducted, explain how the NCT application your team chose has advanced scientific knowledge. Our NCT application is Pollution Control, more specifically waste elimination and management. Our vertical wastewater treatment plant design involves advanced scientific knowledge in many areas. The knowledge and skills required to manufacture and/or operate these biomass facilities will require professional organizations (FWPCOA) to keep their members constantly updated on new research topics and technologies as well as push institutes of higher education to incorporate additional courses and programs in wastewater biochemical processes, new uses for methane, structural engineering and design along with implementation and safety standards. Not only does our design increase the efficiency of land use, but it has also created a new paradigm for waste treatment plants. This vertical waste treatment plant employs innovative new processes to maximize the collection of methane, a greenhouse gas with destructive potential twenty times that of carbon dioxide, without compromising the level of safety within the plant. This methane can then be used as an energy source, which could be sufficient to make large scale plants energy self-sufficient.(FWPCOA email) It has a clarification system through which the wastewater is purified to such an extent that quite often the effluent is cleaner than the water into which it flows (Brad Taylor). So, in effect, this process prevents nitrogen-saturated water runoff from entering lakes and rivers and causing dangerous algal blooms. These algal blooms are detrimental to aquatic life, irreversibly offsetting the delicate balance of our ecosystem (Chesapeake Bay). Our adaptation of the wastewater treatment plant has not only exhibited advanced technology resulting in higher standards of safety and protection for the environment, but also a productive use for otherwise deleterious materials and replace our ever dwindling supply of fossil fuels. |