To reduce the overall environmental impact of a residence or commercial facility, a system is provided for integrating energy usage. In such a system, there is a system for capturing solar energy; a system for fermenting biomass and concentrating the fermentate, generating carbon dioxide and ethanol; a system for storing excess energy for subsequent release; and a system for growing biomass. In integrating the systems, the captured solar energy is used as heat and electrical power. Excess energy beyond an instantaneous energy requirement is stored in the system for storing excess energy. Ethanol produced is used as a fuel. Carbon dioxide that is produced is provided to the system for growing biomass. Instantaneous energy deficiencies are reduced by releasing stored excess energy.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a fermentation product, which method comprises (i) reducing carbon dioxide to a C1 compound, (ii) contacting at least a portion of said C1 compound with a culture comprising a methylotrophic microorganism, (iii) fermenting said C1 compound with said methylotrophic microorganism to produce said fermentation product, wherein the fermentation of the C1 compound with said methylotrophic microorganism further produces carbon dioxide, which is at least partially recycled to the reducing step.

A modular bioreactor system for creating tissue-engineered constructs is described. The bioreactor system includes a bioreactor with a driving system and a chamber for holding a graft. The bioreactor system also includes a housing with a motor capable of engaging the driving system to continuously mechanically stimulate the graft.

An organic waste material processing system includes a waste material holding tank and a slurry-producing device configured to process organic waste material into a slurry. A waste processing section has at least one pressurizeable tank connected to the waste material holding tank receiving slurry therefrom. The pressurizeable tank includes a slurry temperature adjusting part and a first hydrocarbon capturing structure configured to capture hydrocarbon vapors produced by the slurry at a predetermined temperature. A hydrocarbon vapor processing section collects captured hydrocarbon vapors from the waste processing section such that an electric power producing apparatus generates electricity using collected hydrocarbon vapor and provides electric power to at least the pretreatment section and the waste processing section. A waste post-processing section is configured to receive processed slurry produce salable organic materials, nutrient enhanced media and recycled water.

A portable renewable energy microgeneration system is disclosed. The system comprises one or more holding tanks that are configured to perform anaerobic digestion on waste in a multi-phase process using bacteria and a controller configured to automatically control the multi-phase process and to re-use the bacteria. The controller re-uses the bacteria by removing at least a portion of the liquid from the waste after anaerobic digestion is performed on the waste and using the at least a portion of the liquid to wet other waste and repeat the multi-phase process.

An organic waste material processing system includes a waste material holding tank and a slurry-producing device configured to process organic waste material into a slurry. A waste processing section has at least one pressurizeable tank connected to the waste material holding tank receiving slurry therefrom. The pressurizeable tank includes a slurry temperature adjusting part and a first hydrocarbon capturing structure configured to capture hydrocarbon vapors produced by the slurry at a predetermined temperature. A hydrocarbon vapor processing section collects captured hydrocarbon vapors from the waste processing section such that an electric power producing apparatus generates electricity using collected hydrocarbon vapor and provides electric power to at least the pretreatment section and the waste processing section. A waste post-processing section is configured to receive processed slurry produce salable organic materials, nutrient enhanced media and recycled water.

The United States faces significant environmental burden to treat and transport 0.61 billion kg of defective tomatoes (culled tomatoes) every year. The present disclosure provides for the treatment and processing of culled tomatoes in microbial-electrochemical systems, using the microbial fuel cell as a model reactor. The fundamental differences between the long-term oxidative behavior of unprocessed culled tomatoes compared to the three readily soluble substrates (dextrose, acetate, and wastewater) are disclosed. AC electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analyses indicate the influential impedance contributions of the peel & seed to the cull oxidation. Cyclic voltammetry tests indicate that the indigenous redox-active pigments in the cull influence the faradaic processes involved in the cull oxidation.

A bio-processing system (100) for wirelessly powering one or more sensors (116-128, 400) is presented. The system (100) includes bio-processing units (106-110), process supporting devices (112-114), energy sources (146-148), and sensors (116-128, 400) including an energy harvesting unit (402) and an energy storage unit (404). The system (100) includes a power management subsystem (104, 200) wirelessly coupled to the sensors (116-128, 400) and including a processor (202) configured to wirelessly monitor energy consumption of the sensors (116-128, 400) and a level of energy stored in corresponding energy storage units (404), select at least one sensor (116-128, 400) based on the energy consumption of the sensors (116-128, 400) and corresponding levels of energy stored in the energy storage units (404), and identify at least one active energy source (146-148) as a power source, where the identified power source is configured to wirelessly transfer power to the selected sensor (116-128, 400).

A computer-implemented method for augmentation and printing of a three-dimensional (3D) object is provided. The computer-implemented method includes analyzing a model of the 3D object, information of sensors for deployment on the 3D object and environmental parameters of a location where the 3D object is deployable and determining, from results of the analyzing, a surface contour of the 3D object, power requirements of the sensors and power levels that can be generated at the location by algae-based power generation. The computer-implemented method further includes augmenting the model with microfluidic circuitry models for supporting the algae-based power generation on the surface contour to meet the power requirements to an extent possible given the power levels, printing the 3D object and microfluidic circuitry according to the model and the microfluidic circuitry models and supplying the microfluidic circuitry with algae for the algae-based power generation.

A renewable energy microgeneration apparatus is disclosed that includes a mixing tank that mixes waste with a liquid, a buffer tank that receives and pre-warms the mixed waste, a pasteurization tank that pasteurizes on the pre-warmed mixed waste, a digestion tank that performs anaerobic digestion on the pasteurized waste, a de-watering device that separates liquid digestate and removes salt from the liquid, sensors that measure salinity and biogas quality, and a controller. The controller causes the transfer of digestate from the digestion tank to the pasteurization tank to the dewatering device, causes the de-watering device to separate the liquid and remove the salt from the liquid, monitors the salinity of the liquid and the quality of biogas using the sensors, and causes the mixing of the liquid with the waste and adjusts the feed rate of the waste to reduce the salinity of the waste and increase methane production.