Project Abstract

Indoor air quality sucks for a multitude of reasons, and the most common solution is to ensure adequate ventilation. But sometimes ventilation is impractical. If it isn’t already present, it is expensive and invasive to install dedicated systems. Opening windows, on the other hand, impacts hayfever sufferers for a large chunk of the year, and in areas prone to natural disasters like wildfires, busy urban areas, or areas near industrial sites, the outdoor air may also be full of pollutants. This research explores the impact of three different species of algae on air passed through them. This is an active area of research for carbon capture purposes in industrial applications, but domestic applications remain relatively unexplored, and this intends to answer whether or not easilly sourced species of algae are suitable for air quality improvement in occupied spaces. To test this, four bioreactors were constructed and placed sequentially in a closed 3m x 2.8m x 2.3m room with a single occupant. The air entering and exiting the reactor was monitored using sensors connected to microcontrollers in a sealed environment. Algae shows some promise in this regard, being capable of absorbing co2 in significant quantities, but having mixed results absorbing VOCs and releasing some particulate matter that must be investigated further.

Keywords: Environmental management, Embedded computing, Algae

 Conference Details

Session: Presentation Stream 34 at Presentation Slot 4

Location: CoFo 002 at Wednesday 8th 13:30 – 17:00

Markers: Mark Jones, Galileo Sator (GTA)

Course: MSci Computer Science, Masters 4th Year

Future Plans: I’m undecided