1ST PLACE, 2022 K.K. BARNES STUDENT PAPER AWARD COMPETITION
This research project stemmed from a larger, ongoing project for developing field-deployable water sensors using a low-cost, custom built spectroscopy setup called the GatorSpec. Originally a research assistant for Dr. Aditya Singh, then for Dr. Eban Bean in the Urban Water Resources Lab in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) Department at the University of Florida (UF), the author received an undergraduate research fund to perform an independent research project. Since the GatorSpec had not been validated yet, the aim of this research project was to validate GatorSpec results by comparing them with that of a state-of-the-art, off-the-shelf spectrophotometer, the ThermoFisher NanoDropTM 2000C.
The GatorSpec was built by Barrett Carter, a PhD candidate in the ABE Department at UF. Barrett also created the recipes for the synthetic hydroponic nutrient solutions. The author created the solutions from the recipes, analyzed them on the GatorSpec and NanoDrop2000C, developed the model to predict concentrations of nitrate in the samples, and performed the statistical analyses on the data.
This study was developed after preliminary library research was performed focusing on natural tropical feedstock. In countries such as the Philippines, there is an abundance of farmland which is utilized for crop growth both to sustain the population and to sell to neighboring countries to benefit the economy (XIE, 2008). Yearlong tropical climates enable farmers to grow agriculture with minimal breaks, thus leading towards a surplus of crops collected. A variety of tropical agriculture is grown for an extended period of time in tropical climates such as bananas, coconuts, sugarcane, guava, bamboo, pineapple, and many other farm raised foods (Joreleu, 1971). Only a certain percentage of the acquired crops are consumed or used by consumers. Many parts of the plant such as peels, cores, shells, etc… are not used (Idaikkadar, 1979). Therefore, this category of feedstock was identified to have great potential for renewable energy. It was determined that the numerous amounts of available natural tropical feedstock would be perfect biomass for biochar transformation. The purpose of this study was to analyze the specific properties that make biochar effective and determine the performance of typical tropical feedstock derived biochar to be good absorbent technologies.
This research project stemmed from a larger ongoing graduate research project investigating anaerobic digestion (AD) of food waste and ion-exchange ammonia recovery. According to the USDA and U.S. EPA, in the current treatment paradigm, close to $35 billion worth of retail and consumer food waste is landfilled with little to no energy recovery. AD offers a potential economic and environmentally sustainable alternative to landfilling. The biogas and nutrient-rich effluent generated from AD of food waste can be leveraged for further value-added bio-based resource production such as bioenergy and bioplastics. The aim of this undergraduate research study was to develop a method for investigating microbial conversion of AD biproducts (biogas and nutrients) into the biopolymer, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). The method established in this study will be applied to future research investigating the feasibility co-culturing PHB producing cyanobacteria and methanotrophs, to further reduce the energy demands and cost of microbial PHB production.
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This research aims to provide an effective land use planning framework to land managers in Ghana using satellite remote sensing and GIS-based analysis tools to meliorate land use planning in Ghana. Newly developed methodology was used in this study in four districts in Ghana to test its applicability and its potential to provide precursor of land cover change insight. According to the results of this study, land cover patterns have a significant impact on the comprehensive indicator.
This research focused on understanding student sentiment, usage, behavior, and familiarity at the University of Florida with single-use and reusable plastic containers after recent changes in local ordinances and policies. Most preferences towards reusable containers were revealed to be based on environmental concerns rather than socio-economic factors. Decreasing pollution and waste, environment protection, and wildlife protection were cited as the top three reasons for using reusable containers and materials.
