Establishment of an Aeroponics Farming System - WordPress.com

12 Pages·2014·2.26 MB·English

Establishment of
an Aeroponics Farming System
at the Ecological Greenhouse
of Kibbutz Ein Shemer

A collaboration sponsored by
MIT Student:
Camille Richman
Deparment of Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2015
____________________________________________________________
Project Advisors -

MIT Advisors:
Caleb Harper
MIT CityFARM Project Manager
Kent Larson
Principle Research Scientist, Media Lab Changing Places

International Advisors:
Atar Geva
Greenhouse Operations and Guide, Artist
Noam Geva
Greenhouse Manager, Musician
Avital Geva
Greenhouse Founder, Artist
Project Description:

Aeroponics is a method of farming that uses an atomized
nutrient mist as the growing substrate rather than soil or water. The
technology has huge advantages in water consumption reduction and
low space requirements, making it a great candidate for urban farming.
The MIT CityFARM team is researching the farming method by
prototyping an aeroponics façade system in the Media Lab. While the
team is concentrating on urban needs, aeroponics growing technologies
could have just as huge an impact on food production in water-scarce
regions, such as Israel, since aeroponics utilize 98% less water than
conventional farming. By connecting CityFARM and the Ecological
Greenhouse of Kibbutz Ein Shemer in Israel for collaboration on
improving the technology, teams from both sectors that can benefit
from aeroponics can contribute to increasing the speed at which
aeroponics advances and gains support.
The Greenhouse functions based on a platform of combining
social action, education, and research in marine agriculture, renewable
energy, and agricultural technologies. At the Greenhouse, students
from Jewish and Arab backgrounds learn about the agricultural
sciences from educational staff, and they go on to contribute to projects
either self-devised or initiated by the Greenhouse. With its
knowledgeable staff and high traffic of students, the Greenhouse is an
ideal incubator for experimenting with and improving aeroponics
technologies while spreading the support base for farming with
aeroponics in Israel.
Project Report

The Ecological Greenhouse at Kibbutz Ein Shemer is a
classroom, playground, and art installation all in one. A staff of
knowledgeable educational guides leads student groups in exploring real-
world problems and brainstorming relevant solutions and experiments.
Students then implement hands-on projects in topics such as algae,
renewable energy, mechanical systems, farming, aquaponics, herbal
extracts, recycling, and biomimicry. These local middle and high school
students from all backgrounds regularly come to the Greenhouse as a class
to work on their projects. Additionally, many high school students choose
to do their community service at the Greenhouse, helping the educational
staff with experiments and maintenance or starting projects. Another big
influx to the Greenhouse is tours. For example, many Taglit-Birthright
groups visit as part of their tours of Israel. They are exposed to a side of
Israel they might not have expected, participating in discussions led by an
Arab woman about being an Arab in Israel and then touring the
Greenhouse, which brings together Jewish and Arab Israelis over a
common interest in sustainability and education. The Greenhouse is
home to so many diverse programs and projects that prove anything can
be done at the Greenhouse.
From left to right: Spirulina experiments in the laboratory, wind and water
powered mechanical systems, and the recycling project led by MIT student
Keith Tanner in summer 2013.
From Left to Right: Students’ experiments on lettuce growing conditions,
algae experiments in the background and pool ecosystem in the
foreground, and an aquaponic setup.
When I first arrived, I had to figure out how to integrate myself
and best take advantage of the five weeks I had with the amazing
resources the Greenhouse provided. I knew an aeroponics project would
tie in perfectly with the aims of the Greenhouse, after all there were
already so many great related hydroponic, aquaponic, and farming
projects. But my main goal was to get students just as excited about
aeroponics and pioneering experiments in this new direction as I was. I
wanted to start by building a low pressure aeroponic system and wow-ing
students into believing in aeroponics.
A neglected corner of the Greenhouse was designated as
aeroponics territory, and I got to work setting up, cleaning, and building
with huge amounts of help and support from the Greenhouse staff. We
had a first aeroponic system planted with lettuce and running by the
second week. It was pretty soggy and very leaky, so we started working
on the next versions with new designs and better materials,
simultaneously working on a smaller-scale demonstration tank. We
wanted to make aeroponics less of a mystery for students. Because so
many tours and classes were visiting the aeroponics experiments, we set
up a section purely for presentation. Instead of lifting the lids on the big
aeroponic systems, we wanted students to be able to peer into a window
and see the piping systems and suspended plant roots for themselves.

Posing with the first complete aeroponics Daniel and Opal, doing their national service
system planted with lettuce. at the Greenhouse, work on the demonstration.
Left: Giving a
presentation
about aeroponics
to local middle
school students.
Right: Students
peek inside the
demo system to
better understand
The complete demonstration section. aeroponics.
Once we had two really nice, leak-proof systems running, we
started an experiment comparing energy use versus plant growth.
Since a big part of the question of aeroponics technology’s feasibility is
energy cost, we wanted to see how plant growth might correlate with
energy usage. On one system, the pump is on a timing cycle of fifteen
minutes on, fifteen minutes off, while the second system’s pump runs
nonstop. Students are also taking nitrate, ammonia, and phosphate
measurements on the water in both systems to examine fluctuations as
plants mature. The experiment is ongoing, and I am still receiving
data from students via email!

Daniel helps a student
working on aeroponic Data logs and nutrient
system version 2.0. measurement kits.
The second and third versions
of the aeroponic systems.
From Left to Right: Itamar taking measurements; Omer, Edo, and Tomer recording data.
I expected that the main challenge of this project would be
connecting with students and having to interact mostly in English, but
that turned out to be the easiest and most fun part! The main challenge I
experienced was more due to time sensitivity. I wanted students to see a
full cycle of aeroponically grown lettuce, and I wanted to see them see it!
With only five weeks, I was constantly nervous about the plants’ health.
There were many ups and downs with both external conditions and
system failure which affected the plants. A big repair we had to make was
install filters in line with the pumps in all the systems because the mist
heads were continuously clogging. The water was so hard that the
fertilizer was calcifying and preventing mist from reaching the plant
roots.
Getting students involved in their own projects was the most
exciting part of the project. I presented to several of the regular school
group classes, explaining what CityFARM does, what I do in the
laboratory, and showing pictures of the farm. Students who chose to do
their projects about aeroponics developed ideas for variations on the
systems I had already built or for experiments to conduct on similar
small-scale systems they would build. By the third and fourth weeks,
classes from three schools had students working on aeroponics-related
ideas, and building their own systems.
The students came up with great ideas! There are students
interested in the vertical farming aspect of aeroponics who are building a
system turned ninety degrees to make an aeroponic wall. It stands on top
of an aquaponic system, retrieving its water from the pool of fish which
fertilizes hydroponically grown plants. Another group of students is
exploring the efficiency of aeroponics at different stages of plant growth.
Their hypothesis is that there might be an optimal time to transplant
crops into aeroponics systems based on different nutrient and water
uptake rates in the plant life cycle. They are building three small systems
in which to compare seeds, seedlings, and mature plants. A common
question during my presentations was about the roots being kept out of
light, and I would encourage students to imagine how when plants are
grown in soil, the roots are not exposed to sunlight, and why this might
be. Two students decided to answer the question experimentally and are
comparing aeroponic growth with roots either exposed to sunlight or kept
in the dark. After seeing the red and blue LED light-flooded environment
of CityFARM in pictures, two other students wanted to test purple light
versus white light in a small-scale aeroponics system. The students came
up with ideas ranging from integration with other systems, comparison
with other methods of farming, and improving on aesthetics. The
aeroponics section of the Greenhouse is really transforming.
Students working on their aeroponic system construction. Left, the vertical team. Right, a
student working on the roots in light/dark experiment.
Left: Students beginning
construction on their systems
for testing plant maturity vs
suitability for aeroponics.
Right: A student begins
construction on her combo
aeroponic/aquaponic farming
system.
I entered the construction phase with these groups but sadly, I
am missing the end of their building and experimentation processes. I left
them with a poster on caring for aeroponics systems and encouraged them
to Skype or email me with questions. The collaboration will continue! I
will be sharing updates on research at CityFARM through video and
Facebook posts, and we will be sharing data so as to tangentially improve
our aeroponic farming systems accordingly. Since I left, students have
sent me weekly updates on the nutrient uptake experiment on the two
large systems initially constructed. Several high school students have
been measuring nutrient levels and emailing pictures of the plants and
their recorded data. Soon, they will be finishing up the plant growth
versus energy input experiment on these systems as well! I have sent a
video of one of my fellow researchers, Elaine, explaining her experiment
concerning seed germination for CityFARM, and I plan to continue
documenting in a way that is fun for students at the Greenhouse to see. I
hope that I or other people from my group at MIT, Caleb or fellow
researchers, will pay a visit to the Greenhouse in the future to continue
the collaboration in person.

Electrical Conductivity and pH measurements data log, caring for an aeroponic system poster.
Reflecting on this January at the Greenhouse and my previous
work in Israel at Keter, the most important part about succeeding in an
international environment is to find your niche, live it, and understand
the roles other people in the workplace occupy. This means talking to
people! The most amazing part of this second experience in Israel has
been the opportunity to make more friends, learn more about Israeli
culture, learn more Hebrew, and most importantly again, talk to people.
The most important skill to thrive in an international environment is to
engage with people, which at Keter I did, but at the Greenhouse I did on
steroids because the work depended on it. I loved having a job where I
could simultaneously be working and developing relationships with the
students and staff. Personally and professionally, this has been an
amazing experience at the Greenhouse because I have learned that what
makes me happy in a work environment has to include people and
collaboration and lots of smiles. I found something that I would be