Mini Factory

We are aware of that one of the main sources of nickel pollution in the environment is nickel-containing effluent. The goal of our project is to control and eliminate pollution sources. To accomplish our goal, we observed a treatment workshop through Human Practices. We replaced most of their systems with simpler devices. We made a model mini factory physical object through 3D printing technology, hoping to demonstrate the possibility of putting our engineered yeast into practice.

The following is the construction process of the mini factory

Fig 1.Design

The mini factory consists of mainly three parts: Collection Tank, Treatment Pool and Outlet Sump.

Fig 2.Modeling

Fig 3.Printing

Fig 4.Physical object

Fig 5. Automatic control

Fig 6.Beautify

The operation process of mini factory

First, the nickel-containing effluent enters the Collection, and the treatment starts. The pump will pump the effluent into the treatment pool. When the water level reaches a certain height, the pump will automatically stop pumping water and start blowing air and the yeast will start absorbing nickel ions.

Fig 7.Yeast gel balls in the Treatment Pool

When the treatment is completed, the yeast gel bolls are separated from the effluent, and the water pump pumps the treated effluent into outlet sump. What's interesting here is that semi-permeable membranes have been added in and out of the pool to prevent microbial escape.

This is the whole process of automatic effluent treatment.

Here we are going to show how does our mini factory works in the video below.