Post by jeff on May 8, 2016 22:21:19 GMT
Much of our current work is based on the concept of linking normally unconnected sectors of society's infrastructures. This stage has been labeled industrial ecology. In broadest terms industrial ecology creates symbiotic systems throughout society which share and exchange resources internally just as ecosystems do in nature. Industrial ecologies can have high overall efficiencies because of resource sharing. Also, pollution can be mostly, if not completely, eliminated as one component's wastes is another component's energy, nutrient or materials source. An example is the growth of eco-industrial parks, which can be one solution to smart resource utilization. Another example is the use of Restorers to purify water and provide valuable secondary products as functions of the same process.
www.oceanarksint.org/index.php?id=eco-machines
One of the first Eco Machines was installed adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant in Providence Rhode Island. There, for five years, Todd demonstrated that natural systems could “successfully remove nutrients, toxic chemicals and heavy metals from city sewage.”
He argued that Eco Machines were capable of achieving tertiary treatment at a lower cost than conventional technologies without the use of toxic chemicals that harmed the environment. Furthermore, Todd maintained that flowers and fish could be grown, not only for aesthetic purposes but to offset the costs of running wastewater treatment facilities.
His ideas attracted attention at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the early 1990s, the EPA funded a study of four demonstration projects using Todd’s “Advanced Ecologically Engineered Systems (AEES)” in Frederick County, Maryland, South Burlington Vermont, Harwich Massachusetts and San Francisco California. The goals for the AEES systems were similar to established standards for conventional wastewater treatment plants: BOD < 10mg/l; TSS < 10mg/l; Ammonia Nitrogen < 5mg/l; Total Nitrogen < 10mg/l; and Total Phosphorus < 3mg/l.
The EPA evaluation – which focused on the systems in Frederick County and South Burlington – found “the currently designed process capable of meeting all of these goals (with municipal wastewater influents) except those for Total Phosphorus.” The AEES systems were able to remove about half of the phosphorus, “which would not always be sufficient to meet the 3 mg/L standard” for typical municipal waste-waters, noted the EPA report. The evaluation also showed that AEES systems “provided significant removal of fecal coli-forms.” In the South Burlington demonstration “wastewater influent typically contained 8 2 106 MPN/10mL while the final effluent averaged 1,200 MPN/100mL.”
Although the demonstrations were successful, the projects themselves shut down after funding from EPA ran out in the late 1990s. However, private companies followed along to market AEES systems for municipal and industrial applications. John Todd continued to design natural systems through Ocean Arks and the for-profit firm he set up with his son Jonathan, John Todd Design.
www.biocycle.net/2008/05/20/the-natural-way-to-clean-wastewater/
www.oceanarksint.org/index.php?id=eco-machines
One of the first Eco Machines was installed adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant in Providence Rhode Island. There, for five years, Todd demonstrated that natural systems could “successfully remove nutrients, toxic chemicals and heavy metals from city sewage.”
He argued that Eco Machines were capable of achieving tertiary treatment at a lower cost than conventional technologies without the use of toxic chemicals that harmed the environment. Furthermore, Todd maintained that flowers and fish could be grown, not only for aesthetic purposes but to offset the costs of running wastewater treatment facilities.
His ideas attracted attention at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the early 1990s, the EPA funded a study of four demonstration projects using Todd’s “Advanced Ecologically Engineered Systems (AEES)” in Frederick County, Maryland, South Burlington Vermont, Harwich Massachusetts and San Francisco California. The goals for the AEES systems were similar to established standards for conventional wastewater treatment plants: BOD < 10mg/l; TSS < 10mg/l; Ammonia Nitrogen < 5mg/l; Total Nitrogen < 10mg/l; and Total Phosphorus < 3mg/l.
The EPA evaluation – which focused on the systems in Frederick County and South Burlington – found “the currently designed process capable of meeting all of these goals (with municipal wastewater influents) except those for Total Phosphorus.” The AEES systems were able to remove about half of the phosphorus, “which would not always be sufficient to meet the 3 mg/L standard” for typical municipal waste-waters, noted the EPA report. The evaluation also showed that AEES systems “provided significant removal of fecal coli-forms.” In the South Burlington demonstration “wastewater influent typically contained 8 2 106 MPN/10mL while the final effluent averaged 1,200 MPN/100mL.”
Although the demonstrations were successful, the projects themselves shut down after funding from EPA ran out in the late 1990s. However, private companies followed along to market AEES systems for municipal and industrial applications. John Todd continued to design natural systems through Ocean Arks and the for-profit firm he set up with his son Jonathan, John Todd Design.
www.biocycle.net/2008/05/20/the-natural-way-to-clean-wastewater/