Climate change poses a severe threat to food production, making it imperative to find sustainable methods. One such method is aquaponics, which grows fish and vegetables together. Now, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev water researchers have offered a proof of concept for a new closed loop system that produced more fish and vegetables while using less energy than conventional systems.
Their findings were published recently in the journal Resources, Conservation & Recycling.
Prof. Amit Gross, director of the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research of Ben-Gurion University has been working with his students and collaborators for the last decade on aquaponic systems. Aquaponic systems grow fish while using the fish waste to grow vegetables hydroponically. Coupled aquaponics are closed loop systems that recycle much of the fish effluent rather than reusing it outside of the aquaponic system. Where typically the fish solid waste is disposed of, the research led by Prof. Gross managed to treat it by anaerobic digestion and recover energy and nutrients into the system to form a near zero waste unit.
Read more at phys.org