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Climate Change Catastrophe
Microbes – Episode 5 – Climate Change Catastrophe!
Posted, on 26 May 2021
A new show about climate change. Made by children, for grown-ups.
This new show will give you inspiring perspectives on one of the biggest challenges of our time – climate change. It’s all about what children think about climate change – their hopes, fears and ideas for the future.
To make this show we’ve worked with children from across the North of England as well as scientists and engineers at Newcastle University.
Find out more and access free family activities and KS2 schools resources https://www.cap-a-pie.co.uk/climate-c.
Newcastle University is evaluating ‘Climate Change Catastrophe!’ and would like to hear your views once you have finished watching the show.
London Science Museum Exhibition (2011-2012)
Newcastle showcase ‘Bug Battery’ at London Science Museum
By: Dr. Emma Bowen
Posted on August 24, 2013 at 9:00 PM
Dr Sharon Velasquez of CEGs has been asked by Professor Bruce Logan of Penn State University US, to assemble and commission a fuel cell of his design for the “Water Wars: fight the food crisis” exhibition at the London Science Museum ; an exhibition showing how engineers are developing technologies to secure enough water and prevent a global food crisis. The device: a simple electrical cell, about the size of an A4 text book, generates enough electrical current to power a small desk fan, providing a good visual demonstration of the sort of research that Newcastle’s Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) group are involved in.
As we enter Newcastle University’s Year of Sustainability, this particular ‘bug battery’ is especially exciting since it produces electricity by degrading wastewater and not the more conventional fuel cell compounds such as hydrogen and methanol which are expensive to produce or store. Dr Velasquez observes that the microbial fuel cell has been inoculated with wastewater collected from regional sewage plants and so reveals that the specialist bacteria required to produce electricity from waste are already present in our ordinary natural environments; and moreover, that these bacteria are potentially capable of releasing the energy stored in wastewater for direct use.
Microalgas llenas de energía
La producción de biodiésel a partir de cepas aguarda el apetito de los inversionistas.
Por: Ernesto Perea
Sábado, 20 de mayo de 2017 a las 06:01
La producción de biodiésel a partir de microalgas tiene un gran potencial el próximo lustro, ya que es sostenible con el medio ambiente, ocupa menos espacio respecto al biocombustible derivado de cultivos agrícolas y puede ser altamente rentable si se realizan las inversiones adecuadas.
Las microalgas tienen lípidos o grasas, un alto rendimiento y se regeneran en horas, por lo que son muy eficientes para obtener biodiésel, comenta a Manuractura, Sharon Velásquez, especialista en Ingeniería Química y Materiales Avanzados de la Universidad de Newcastle, Reino Unido
Cepas como Botryococcus braunii o Schizochytrium reportan valores máximos de 75% en grasas. Otras cepas como Neochloris oleoabundans o Chlorella vulgaris también son útiles, agrega, Gibrán S. Alemán Nava, director de la firma mexicana Galtec.
Sin embargo, pensar en el desarrollo de biorrefinerías para microalgas parece lejano. La inversión mínima para que una empresa de este sector sea rentable es de 36 millones de dólares (mdd), con lo que alcanza una producción de 12 millones de litros al año.
