Enhancing horticultural production through carbon dioxide enrichment and heat recovery from municipal organics composting

Vertical farming is an innovative urban agricultural practice that can efficiently use resources to supply food for communities, while high energy cost is becoming an economic bottleneck to long-term development and growth of the technology. The potential exists to capture and take advantage of by-products generated from the biological decay of the organics during the composting process, including CO2 gas and heat. This project is framed within the concept of utilizing process by-products generated during the composting of source separated organics to achieve CO2 enrichment and heat recovery in modular vertical farming systems. This project will offer opportunities for reducing the carbon footprint, better resource management, and opportunities for energy savings in Canada.

Faculty Supervisor:

Gordon Price

Student:

Weixi Shu

Partner:

Springboard Atlantic

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Dalhousie University