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Floating islands — first responders in water reuse

Too much of anything can be bad, we’re told, and it’s certainly true of nutrients in water. Too many nutrients in rivers, lakes and ponds — often the result of runoff from nearby fields, towns and cities — can over-stimulate the growth of water plants, which in turn choke off oxygen and kill water creatures. The process is known as eutrophication.

Lakeland College’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation is looking at the possibility of reducing the dangers of eutrophication by taking nutrients right out of the water, through an innovative method known as “floating islands.”

This spring, the centre’s pond was divided in two with a lake divider curtain — a piece of research equipment made of durable plastic. The top contains Styrofoam and floats on the water surface, while the bottom is weighted with chain and sinks into the sediment at the bottom of a water body, effectively dividing it in two. On each side of the curtain, a floating island was launched. Floating islands are artificial islands, strong enough to support a mix of wetland plants; installed on a eutrophied body of water, they act as natural wetlands, filtering nutrients from water.

Lakeland’s experiment compared the efficiency of floating islands at removing agricultural nutrients from water in two different scenarios. On one side of the pond, water circulated naturally, while on the other side circulation was boosted by a solar-powered submersible water pump.

Water was sampled weekly through the spring and summer and analyzed for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and phosphorous levels. Results of the work could lead to more widespread efforts to counter the eutrophication of ponds, rivers and lakes.

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Finding new ways to use an old crop: Jerusalem artichokes bloom again

You may know Jerusalem artichokes primarily as the towering yellow daisies that overflow gardens in August and September; for Alberta startup NovaGreen, their value lies in what you can’t see: the tubers they grow underground.

Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchokes) are a native North American sunflower species that was prized for the food value of its tubers by indigenous people and credited with helping to keep early settlers alive. Exported to Europe, it became popular at first as food for humans but later was used mostly as animal feed.

It fell out of favour in North America as well, until efforts to revive it gradually took hold in the 1990s and beyond. Its value today is chiefly the high concentrations of inulin (a prized source of fibre) and fructose it contains. Novagreen has developed a method for efficiently extracting inulin from Jerusalem artichokes.

According to Barry Farquharson, co-founder of Novagreen, the company’s partnership with Lakeland College “has helped us to get to this next level by providing and modifying commercial potato equipment for the project, as well as advancing the science of weed control, application of biochar to crop development, and more.”

“Their combination of agricultural knowhow, combined with a scientific approach, adds essential discipline and capability to project advancement.”

Industry: Agriculture

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All colleges say they are educating the leaders of tomorrow. At Lakeland College in Alberta, our students are leading today. Students have the opportunity to... Learn more
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A barren patch of ground becomes a place to grow knowledge

Exposed soil — whether it’s left unprotected by farming, construction or industrial activity — has an increased risk of eroding. The environmental impact of erosion can include loss of farmland, sedimentation of waterways, reduced air quality, and, in severe cases, total abandonment of the land for any productive purpose.

However, there are methods available to temporarily control erosion and minimize its environmental impact during construction and until permanent ground cover can be re-established.

Lakeland College’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation became a candidate for temporary erosion control when a section of its grounds was left bare after a gasifier and solar concentrator were installed. That gave students from the Environmental Conservation and Reclamation program a chance to put what they were learning into practice.

The students were asked to develop an erosion-control strategy for the site. They decided to seed the land with a native seed mix before installing temporary erosion-control matting to protect against erosion while the seeds germinated and grew.

Matting was chosen because the site was small, it’s easy to install and affordable. However, the students took the opportunity to use the site to test and compare three types of matting with different lifespans — wood fibre, which lasts 12 months, straw, which lasts 18-24 months, and coconut fibre which persists for more than 36 months. The question was whether a more persistent mat would influence regrowth on the site; students continue to evaluate and report on that experiment.

Funded by: College and Community Innovation Program, Innovation Enhancement (IE) Grant, NSERC

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Focused on power: researching a bright new way to use the sun’s energy

Focusing energy increases productivity: it’s true for people, so no surprise it’s true for the sun, as a unique device called a solar concentrator demonstrates. Lakeland College’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation site is now home to a solar concentrator prototype, which can concentrate the sun’s energy to temperatures in excess of 2,000 °C, hot enough to melt metal.

The concentrator works by reflecting the sun’s light from one mirror to a curved mirror, which in turn concentrates the light into a focused circular beam aimed at a target. Controlling and directing the beam is done by tilting the mirrors and adjusting the vertical and horizontal position of the target for maximum effect. The concentrator uses solar-tracking sensors and two motors to follow the sun.

Work being done with the concentrator includes Lakeland researchers making various types of targets to evaluate their performance on different industrial tasks, such as drying materials or heating liquids and gases. The first target tested was for heating water; it consisted of a metal plate covered in coiled copper tubing, which intercepted the concentrated sunlight at its focal point. The temperature of water flowing through the tube could be raised from 15° C to upwards of 70° C in a matter of seconds.

When it’s concentrated, solar energy can reach the high temperatures required by some industrial processes, which opens many more opportunities for harnessing the sun’s power. Testing will continue on exploring potential uses for concentrated sunlight.

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What goes around (water) comes around (as heat)

In February 2015, Lakeland College opened the doors of its new Bio-Energy Centre. The building features a micro cogeneration unit built by Yanmar Energy Systems Co. Ltd. of Japan. The cogen unit uses an engine fueled by natural gas to generate electricity; at the same time, water is heated by the engine’s warmth. Heat from the engine’s water jacket and exhaust is collected through heat exchangers and used to provide base heat to the centre. The Yanmar unit is rated to simultaneously produce 10 kW of electricity and 16.8 kW of heat.

The cogen starts up automatically when the building needs heat and begins to generate electricity; any electricity not used in the building is exported to the Lakeland College grid for use at the main campus. Electricity generated from the cogen is generally less expensive than purchasing grid electricity because natural gas is much less expensive than electricity — according to the Government of Alberta’s Utilities Consumer website, the average cost of electricity in 2014 was $0.0764/kWh, which is equivalent to $21.22 per gigajoule. The average price for natural gas over the same period was $4.51 per gigajoule, less than a quarter the cost.

Because the cogen is so efficient, Lakeland anticipated heating the building for free; researchers were monitoring results to determine if that were true.

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Repairing the riparian area — riverbank rejuvenation in Vermilion

Lakeland College’s Vermilion campus was founded in 1913 as an agricultural school and is surrounded by land used for studying and researching farming. In addition to space for farming and grazing, the fields contain wetlands which, with growing recognition of their importance in the overall health of the environment, are increasingly the subject of research themselves.

That’s because riparian (literally, river bank) areas provide habitat for wildlife, have an important role in protecting water quality and limit the damage caused by floods. But the banks of wetlands and rivers are often badly degraded — by animals seeking water and by how the adjacent land is used.

An assessment done before research started recommended fencing several wetlands to keep cattle off and let the riparian areas return to their natural state. However, only one wetland, a dugout, was fenced (water was provided for the cattle elsewhere). Instead, the college is aiming to develop a collaborative, sustainable and realistic approach to improving the overall health of college wetlands, in the belief many small improvements will lead to positive changes.

Research on college property began with making inventories of wetland plant species and a project measuring water quality.

In a related project, researchers are also reassessing a fenced off riparian area in Vermilion Provincial Park, to assess whether the fences have improved the health of the riparian area (which had been degraded by livestock). They have developed a set of protocols to use in the reassessment and in future monitoring. Students involved in the project focused on studying the amount of biomass produced in the area through assessments of grazing cages that had been set up for three years before the fences were built.

In the future, students may be involved in yearly assessments of the riparian areas within the fences.

Funded by: Innovation Enhancement (IE) Grant

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Strong, straight and nutritious: research to improve cereal crops

Keeping cereal crops healthy and strong over the summer gives them their best shot of producing a high yield of grain. How to achieve that is the focus of the cereal research taking place at Lakeland College, led by Laurel Perrott.

Recent research trials have had three main themes: in-season nitrogen fertility, optimal fungicide timing, and preventing lodging. Under the first theme, Perrott is studying the effect of applying additional nitrogen fertilizer on different varieties and classes of wheat after the crop has emerged, either early or later in the season.

She’s also studying barley foliar fungicide timing. Fungicides are commonly used in cereals to protect the green leaf area in the upper canopy, so the plant can continue producing the carbohydrates needed to fully fill the grain head, right until the end of the season. Perrott is testing fungicide timing under normal conditions and also where there’s high pressure from disease on the plants. Ultimately, this work will help growers know the optimum time for applying fungicides, depending on whether they rotate their crops more or less often.

Lodging (the displacement of roots or stems so stalks don’t grow straight) is a major headache for grain producers because it can lower yields and reduce their nutrient value. Perrott is tackling the problem through collaborative research. Until recently, growers had two tools available to them for combatting lodging — choosing to use only varieties known to grow straighter, and low nitrogen fertility.

Unfortunately, varieties that stand well do not always perform adequately in other ways, and low levels of nitrogen reduce yield. Although they are not yet registered for use on barley, Perrot is testing two “plant growth regulators” on it for their ability to shorten the stem of the crop and keep it standing, even where nitrogen fertility is high.

Industry: Agriculture

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Coming together to separate oil and water

After the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, it was clear to Mark, Stephen and Michael Neal that it was time to revive an oil-containment boom system (now called the XBOOM) invented by their parents.

The Neals and their company, The Canadian Floating Fence Corporation, approached researchers at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology’s Applied Research and Innovation Services department for help in refining the boom.

“Coming to SAIT was an amalgamation of great minds working together,” said Stephen Neal. “We had the basics and they maximized and improved upon it — and the results were startling.”

Environmental technologies researchers in the Applied Research department began with validation testing to verify the XBOOM did, indeed, have a 94-per-cent containment rate. Then the department’s design, testing and fabrication researchers furthered the prototype design, creating a unique spar-anchor system that can withstand wind, waves and water currents.

The XBOOM comprises a vertical support system and a composite filter barrier that can separate water and oil. It filters large and small floating objects, bitumen, crude oil and other water-borne debris. This versatile technology can contain hydrocarbon spills in rivers, lakes and oceans. It is designed to divert, redirect and ultimately contain effluent in preparation for skimming and recovery.

The XBOOM has been used by the City of Edmonton to mitigate algae in a park pond, to prepare it for hosting the 2015 ITU World Triathlon Series and by the James Smith Cree Nation to contain and absorb an oil spill in the Saskatchewan River. Farther from home, it was used in Trinidad and Tobago to remediate an oil spill and at a North Carolina power plant as an effluent river-control barrier.

The Canadian Floating Fence Corporation is committed to job creation, and is establishing a licensee to manufacture and market the XBOOM system in Australia, where one of the local government’s criteria for approval is guaranteed job creation. At home, Canadian Floating Fence is working to partner with an engineering firm and an Alberta-based First Nation to manufacture the XBOOM on the nation and bring 33 new jobs to indigenous workers.

Industry: Environmental

About SAIT

SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) is a leader in action-based learning, delivering relevant, skill-oriented education. We offer two baccalaureate degrees, three applied degrees, 73... Learn more
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Power line research shocks and impresses

Shannon Developments Corp. assesses power lines around the world. For more than 20 years its assessments have helped utilities to replace only the power lines that are wearing out, instead of going through scheduled replacement, which may mean lines that are still performing are taken down.

Recently, Shannon’s assessment process has evolved toward digitized analysis — and company owner Douglas Shannon needed samples of power lines that had deteriorated in different ways. With them, he could create digital files to be used in an analytical computer model. Rather than using actual corroded power lines for his research, Shannon needed a method to simulate aging on conductors.

“This is a very high-stakes game for utility providers because of the expense to replace the lines,” Shannon said. “Creating this analytical system from the physical models will allow us to provide our clients with a comprehensive and cost-effective assessment of their aging power line infrastructure.”

Shannon approached the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) to undertake an applied research project with design, testing and fabrication researchers in the institute’s Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS) department. The researchers created 15 samples of simulated power lines affected by different types of corrosion.

“Now that we have the physical samples, we’re looking to create the digital models that reflect them. These digital files will then be used in an analytical computer model,” Shannon explained. “What has been advantageous for me about working with [the Applied Research and Innovation Services department] is that it allowed me to focus on the computer model while researchers developed the physical samples, very hands-on work that required a lot of time and attention to detail.”

There were also advantages for SAIT students who got an opportunity to collaborate with SAIT researchers on the work, and for utility companies which will ultimately get efficient, fast and accurate information about the state of their power lines and whether they need to be replaced from this multi-faceted research.

Industry: Manufacturing
Funded by: Engage Grant

About SAIT

SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) is a leader in action-based learning, delivering relevant, skill-oriented education. We offer two baccalaureate degrees, three applied degrees, 73... Learn more
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A Small Solution for a Big Cleaning Problem

Planes today that seat as many as 200 passengers have just two to four lavatories, which means they can get pretty dirty, pretty fast. But fuel-conscious airlines sharply restrict the weight, size and balance of equipment carried on board, and lavatories and galleys on planes are small. Regular cleaning tools just don’t fit.

When Vaughan Payne, president of Calgary-based Dakota Supplies, watched flight attendants cleaning airplane lavatories with nothing more than spray bottles and paper towels, he was sure there must be a better, more sanitary way. So, Payne and his partner Deborah Humphries got to work on what would become Moppitt™, an all-in-one inflight cleaning system.

In 2015, they brought their idea to Red Deer College’s Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing and worked with its expert product designers and fabricators to create a prototype for product trials.

Just over one year later, Dakota Supplies had partnered with Celeste Industries Corporation, global leader in cleaning products for the airline industry, to distribute Moppitt™ worldwide. It promises to revolutionize how aircrafts are cleaned.

Essentially an expandable mini-mop, Moppitt™ can be a hand-tool for cleaning counters, tray tables or around toilets, or its hidden handle can expand to allow floor spills to be mopped up. A new cleaning cartridge, filled with biodegradable cleaning fluid and a small mop head, clicks into place for each job. But its biggest selling point is its size: retracted, it tucks easily into an overhead bin or a small cupboard.

Moppitt™ offers many benefits: a cleaner, healthier environment for airlines’ customers and staff and reduced turn-around time because planes can be kept cleaner during flights. Airlines may even spend less on outsourced cleaning services.

Industry: Manufacturing
Funded by: Alberta Innovates, Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), National Research Council Canada

About Red Deer Polytechnic

Red Deer Polytechnic is central Alberta’s largest post-secondary institution, serving more than 10,000 credit, non-credit and apprenticeship students. Since becoming a polytechnic institute in 2021,... Learn more