Difference between revisions of "Team:Virginia/Description"

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<del><h1>Description</h1>
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<h1>Description</h1>
  
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<p>(Tell us about your project, describe what moves you and why this is something important for your team)</p></del>
 
  
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<p> All over the world, people need a place treat their wastewater so that dirty water does not pollute rivers or lakes and harm the wildlife. Wastewater treatment plants are very large operations that are costly and difficult to maintain. Our team researched ways to improve treatment plant operations so that they are more energy efficient.<sup><a href="#fn1" id="ref1">1</a></sup></p>
  
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<p>Although wastewater treatment facilities can vary place to place, every facility has three main steps: primary, secondary, and tertiary.  The primary step removes solid objects such as twigs or trash from water by passing the water through a screen.  In the secondary step, bacteria works to break down organic matter.  Finally, bacteria removes nitrogen and phosphorus in the tertiary step. After investigating into further into wastewater treatment processes, we saw an opportunity to make the tertiary process more easily manageable and energy efficient. </p>
  
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<p> During the tertiary step of the wastewater treatment process, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are removed by employing an activated sludge process. Activated sludge contains a multi-culture of bacteria that facilitate the nitrification-denitrification circuit responsible for the removal of ammonia. One type of bacteria performs a nitrification process while the other performs a denitrification process. </p>
  
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<h1>Motivation</h1>
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<p> We specifically examined a co-culture consisting of N. europaea and P. denitrificans as they are two of the most commonly used species in activated sludge. In this particular co-culture system, there are issues with maintaining a consistent level of N. europaea, resulting in a constant fluctuation of the ratio of nitrifiers and denitrifiers. This is largely due to competition between the N. europaea and P. denitrificans in aerobic environments where P. denitrificans, a facultative anaerobe, can outcompete N. europaea. Additionally, N. europaea cannot thrive in hypoxic conditions. To ensure the maintenance of N. Europaea at optimal levels, treatment plants must expend more energy for aeration. </p>
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<p>In developed and developing countries alike, more than 40% of the population live in industrialized urban areas. This number probably includes many iGEMers. Yet we seem to be living in a paradox that we often don't think about. How come we always consume pure, drinkable water, all the while sending non-usable water down the drain? Shouldn't we eventually run out of clean water? Perhaps even more importantly, what happens to the toxic water that we continuously expel? As it turns out, modern wastewater treatment techniques are sophisticated enough to purify water to a level where it can be reused for almost all purposes besides drinking: irrigation of crops and public parks, car washing, mixing concrete, and many other applications[ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reclaimed_water]<sup><a href="#fn1" id="ref1">1</a></sup>. Much of this <em>reclaimed water</em> gets discharged into the environment (rivers; artificial or real lakes). Our team decided to delve a little deeper into the sewage treatment process to search for potential issues or improvements amenable to synthetic biology. And we spotted a big one.</p>
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<p> Our solution is to eliminate the use of a co-culture and implement the nitrification-denitrification circuit into one chassis. We will express nitrification pathway from N. europaea in P. denitrificans. This solution will eliminate the competition in the co-culture, making the management of the bacteria culture significantly simpler.  It will also make the system more energy-efficient due to less oxygenation of the water being required. Our team plans to a reduction of cost analysis for our device compared to the multi-culture currently being used in wastewater treatment facilities. </p>
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<p> Our project involves characterizing several new parts that have never been used in iGEM before. These include a new chassis (P. denitrificans) and two new promoters (Nar and Sod). Additionally, we will be looking into the function HaoB, a protein of unknown function  that is associated HaoA (a big player in the nitrification pathway). </p>
  
 
<p>Before we plunge into the details of our project, we must explore the murky waters of the <em>secondary treatment</em> process. </p>
 
<p>Before we plunge into the details of our project, we must explore the murky waters of the <em>secondary treatment</em> process. </p>
  
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<p>(Tell us about your project, describe what moves you and why this is something important for your team)</p>
  
 
<s><h5>What should this page contain?</h5>
 
<s><h5>What should this page contain?</h5>
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           <h1><b>References</b></h1>
 
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           <a id="fn1" href="Still Making Lit citations" target="_blank">1.</a> Wikipedia -> Reclaimed water<a href="#ref1" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩</a>
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           <a id="fn1" href="Still Making citations" target="_blank">1.</a> EPA-> Wastewater Treatment <a href="#ref1" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩</a>
 
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Revision as of 19:14, 21 June 2017


Description

All over the world, people need a place treat their wastewater so that dirty water does not pollute rivers or lakes and harm the wildlife. Wastewater treatment plants are very large operations that are costly and difficult to maintain. Our team researched ways to improve treatment plant operations so that they are more energy efficient.1

Although wastewater treatment facilities can vary place to place, every facility has three main steps: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary step removes solid objects such as twigs or trash from water by passing the water through a screen. In the secondary step, bacteria works to break down organic matter. Finally, bacteria removes nitrogen and phosphorus in the tertiary step. After investigating into further into wastewater treatment processes, we saw an opportunity to make the tertiary process more easily manageable and energy efficient.

During the tertiary step of the wastewater treatment process, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are removed by employing an activated sludge process. Activated sludge contains a multi-culture of bacteria that facilitate the nitrification-denitrification circuit responsible for the removal of ammonia. One type of bacteria performs a nitrification process while the other performs a denitrification process.

We specifically examined a co-culture consisting of N. europaea and P. denitrificans as they are two of the most commonly used species in activated sludge. In this particular co-culture system, there are issues with maintaining a consistent level of N. europaea, resulting in a constant fluctuation of the ratio of nitrifiers and denitrifiers. This is largely due to competition between the N. europaea and P. denitrificans in aerobic environments where P. denitrificans, a facultative anaerobe, can outcompete N. europaea. Additionally, N. europaea cannot thrive in hypoxic conditions. To ensure the maintenance of N. Europaea at optimal levels, treatment plants must expend more energy for aeration.

Our solution is to eliminate the use of a co-culture and implement the nitrification-denitrification circuit into one chassis. We will express nitrification pathway from N. europaea in P. denitrificans. This solution will eliminate the competition in the co-culture, making the management of the bacteria culture significantly simpler. It will also make the system more energy-efficient due to less oxygenation of the water being required. Our team plans to a reduction of cost analysis for our device compared to the multi-culture currently being used in wastewater treatment facilities.

Our project involves characterizing several new parts that have never been used in iGEM before. These include a new chassis (P. denitrificans) and two new promoters (Nar and Sod). Additionally, we will be looking into the function HaoB, a protein of unknown function that is associated HaoA (a big player in the nitrification pathway).

Before we plunge into the details of our project, we must explore the murky waters of the secondary treatment process.

(Tell us about your project, describe what moves you and why this is something important for your team)

What should this page contain?
  • A clear and concise description of your project.
  • A detailed explanation of why your team chose to work on this particular project.
  • References and sources to document your research.
  • Use illustrations and other visual resources to explain your project.
Advice on writing your Project Description

We encourage you to put up a lot of information and content on your wiki, but we also encourage you to include summaries as much as possible. If you think of the sections in your project description as the sections in a publication, you should try to be consist, accurate and unambiguous in your achievements.

Judges like to read your wiki and know exactly what you have achieved. This is how you should think about these sections; from the point of view of the judge evaluating you at the end of the year.

References

iGEM teams are encouraged to record references you use during the course of your research. They should be posted somewhere on your wiki so that judges and other visitors can see how you thought about your project and what works inspired you.

Inspiration

See how other teams have described and presented their projects:

References

1. EPA-> Wastewater Treatment ↩