Remotely sensed data can provide information about conditions on the ground that may affect food supply chains and food security during pandemics. Your challenge is to demonstrate the agricultural socio-economic impacts from COVID-19.
The reuse of the washing water in agriculture by modifying the washing gel and irrigate the plants with simple subsurface irrigation has been chosen. This modification is to remove materials which harmful to soil and plants and replace them with fertilizers and harmless materials and this modification does not affect the efficiency of washing. And the reused water will be stored in tanks connected together like the sewer systems and the water will break out to the agricultural area according to the soil moisture using a sensor that responsible to give an automatically order to the pumps if the soil requires water without any human interference.
"From dust to a green life"
This statement clarify the development we do with our project, the reusing of washing water in the irrigation process remotely -without any human action- to maintain the bad impact of COVID-19 on the agricultural life and increasing the clean sources of water by modifying the washing gel and remove all the harmful chemical components and replace them with fertilizers that have a harmless impact on the soil without affecting on the quality of clothes washing process.
Firstly, We Found that the most wastewater that is polluted and cannot be reused at its case will be the CLOTHING WASHERS Wastewater.
- So, we have the idea to modify the washing process and reusing the output water for irrigation after washing without any modification on the water itself with respect to:
1- Washing the clothes with the same efficiency.
2- Farming the crops without any soil deficiencies.
3- Avoidance of any human actions or interferences to to decrease the contact percentage to decrease the infection rate of COVID-19 virus.
This process will be done in two major subunits:
1- The scientific and chemical Unit.
2- The commercial Unit.
Let’s start with the scientific unit:
But the question here will be what is the specific reason for being with this pollution amount after the process?
And the answer will be as next:
- The Washing Powder like Arial, Persil, Henkel and ……. etc.
Every Ariel detergent contains many ingredients with long, complicated names, so you have a better idea of what does what, here is a list of the most common ingredients in Ariel detergents. Let’s see what should you know about Ariel ingredients:
- Alkyl (or Alcohol) Ethoxy Sulphate (AES) and Alkyl Sulphate (AS).
- Amine Oxide.
- Cyclodextrin.
- Ethanol.
- Ethylene Diamine Disuccinate (SS-EDDS).
- Hydrogen Peroxide.
- Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (LAS).
- Mono Ethanol Amine (MEA), 2-aminoethanol or Ethanolamine.
- Percarbonate.
- Polyethylene Glycols (PEG), Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) or Polyoxyethylene
(POE).
- Polyvinyl Alcohol.
- Sodium Hypochlorite.
- Sodium Triphosphate (STPP).
- Tetra Acetyl Ethylene Diamine (TAED).
- Titanium and Titanium Dioxide.
- Zinc Phthalocyanine Sulphonate (ZPS).
This List of Materials of Arial ingredients cannot achieve our plan as it will harm our soil, so we are going to make our new powder as modification in the washing process all over the world.
- So, we decided to have a long-term plan by trying to timing chemicals that will help us in the washing mission and can work as a fertilizer in the soil after washing, we pick some materials that will be helpful to this mission as:
1- Cetyl alcohol is also known as hexadecan-1-ol and palmityl alcohol, takes the form of a waxy white solid or flakes and is also used in the cosmetic industry as an opacifier in shampoos, or as an emollient, emulsifier, or thickening agent in the manufacture of skin creams and lotions.
2- Carboxymethylcellulose is a polymer extracted from natural cellulose. It prevents stains from returning to the clothes from which they were removed.
3- Citric acid is the acid in lemons and citrus fruits, is mild and helps remove unpleasant odors from clothes. It is called a chelating agent.
4- Propylene glycol is an organic compound used as a solvent and an enzyme.
5- Sodium carbonate is Carbonic acid salt - used as a building agent in detergents.
6- Sodium Triphosphate is has been used as a building agent in detergents since ancient times.
7- Urea is an organic compound, serves an important role in the metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds by animals, and is the main nitrogen-containing substance in the urine of mammals.
8- Sodium Lauretha sulfate (SLES) is an anionic detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, etc.)?
9- sulfonic acid is referring to a member of the class of organosulfur compounds, Detergents and surfactants are molecules that combine highly nonpolar and highly polar groups. Traditionally, soaps are the popular surfactants, being derived from fatty acids. Since the mid-20th century, the usage of sulfonic acids has surpassed soap in advanced societies. For example, an estimated 2 billion kilograms of alkyl benzenesulfonates are produced annually for diverse purposes. Lignin sulfonates, produced by sulfonation of lignin are components of drilling fluids and additives in certain kinds of concrete.
10- Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) is an inorganic compound, used as an industrial cleaning agent where it is often called "caustic”? It is added to water, heated, and then used to clean process equipment, storage tanks, etc. It can dissolve grease, oils, fats, and protein-based deposits. It is also used for cleaning waste discharge pipes under sinks and drains in domestic properties. Surfactants can be added to the sodium hydroxide solution to stabilize dissolved substances and thus prevent redeposition. A sodium hydroxide soak solution is used as a powerful degreaser on stainless steel and glass bakeware. It is also a common ingredient in oven cleaners.
- This collection of materials can have the laundry mission with high efficiency and still doing the agricultural method with different requirements.
- The Commercial Unit:
The Commercial Side of the track will be the building of laundry-to-landscape distribution with storage.
If you’re looking for a system that gives you flexibility in what plants you’re able to irrigate and takes very little maintenance, we recommend the laundry-to-landscape system.
We use this greywater system as a transition stage of our plan as we will make use of this idea on a large scale as:
- It will be a huge process of collecting water from the buildings in storages in the bottom of every region and we can transfer the water to water keeping and distributing management station by constructing an infrastructure storing and water transportation system - like the sewage and sanitation systems- to have another water arrival to another storage in the farm landscape at a slightly high scale and with some tubes that will go under the soil through the roots by the sub-surface irrigation system to make use of tolerances of roots of the plant rather than its stem or leaves.
Making use of the greywater system will use the storage of our water and tubes and distribute them gradually under the water table surface while the water will not breakout to the soil unless the "soil moisture sensor" orders the pumps to pump a specific amount of water when the moisture of the soil decrease under the suitable limit.
Finally, we aim to achieve 5 specific requirements to make sure from the successfulness of our project, which are:
1. Health
if the reused water is safe to be used as it can be having diseases so when it used in the agriculture it will make the solution unhealthy a carries disease so we must make the water have a small rate of E. coli.
2. The amount of TDS
TDS stands for total dissolved solids and represents the total concentration of dissolved substances in water. TDS is made up of inorganic salts, as well as a small amount of organic matter. Common inorganic salts that can be found in water include calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, which are all cations, and carbonates, nitrates, bicarbonates, chlorides, and sulfates, which are all anions. Cations are positively charged ions and anions are negatively charged ions.
As a rule, water containing a relatively low amount of salt, water with an electrical conductivity of less than 0.7 Deci siemens per meter, or water with less than 450 milligrams per liter of total dissolved solids may be used to irrigate most plants without harming them, including salt-sensitive ones.
But as we reuse water the water can have more so we need to make it useful to use extra management practices, such as growing mostly or only salt-tolerant plants and irrigating enough to leach salt beyond the roots of plants. So, the reused water must have a good amount of TDS that can be used in irrigation of immediately most of the important types of crops.
3. The PH scales
Soil pH or soil reaction is an indication of the acidity or alkalinity of soil and is measured in pH units. Soil pH is defined as the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14 with pH 7 as the neutral point. As the amount of hydrogen ions in the soil increases the soil pH decreases thus becoming more acidic. From pH 7 to 0 the soil is increasingly more acidic and from pH 7 to 14 the soil is increasingly more alkaline or basic.
The effect of soil pH is great on the solubility of minerals or nutrients. Fourteen of the seventeen essential plant nutrients are obtained from the soil. Before a nutrient can be used by plants it must be dissolved in the soil solution. Most minerals and nutrients are more soluble or available in acid soils than in neutral or slightly alkaline soils.
A pH range of approximately 6 to 7 promotes the readiest availability of plant nutrients. But some plants, such as azaleas, rhododendrons, blueberries, white potatoes, and conifer trees, tolerate strong acid soils and grow well. Also, some plants do well only in slightly acid to moderately alkaline soils.
4. The growth of the plant
We will use the reused water in the irrigation of the crops so from most important design requirements is the growths of the plant as it represents that the reused water can be used in the irrigation and the ability of the plant to grow without any problem as the modify on the washing gel make the water able to be irrigated with.
So, if the reused water grows the plants while the normal washing gel so it can not achieve our design requirements.
5. The ability of cleaning
We will use the laundry water in the irrigation but to make this laundry water the washing solution must be efficient as it must be good at cleaning. To do the role of the normal washing gel so we make sure our idea is applicable.
-And by achieving the previous design requirements we came up with a safe, efficient and ecofriendly project.
COVID-19 had a terrible agricultural impact in the last few months specially on the irrigation process. So as an aid in overcoming this process we have reached this solution.
The methods of solution construction are divided into two parts:
1) The Chemical part:
Firstly, the amount of each substance in our solution has been determined. Secondly, A flask containing 1 liter of pure water was put on Magnetic Stirrer, Thirdly, the substances have been scaled in which the acetyl alcohol and urea were powdered to increase the surface area of reaction and made in addition to, Sulphonic acid and propylene glycol were became aqueous to qualify them to render. finally, they have been put in the magnetic stirrer to complete the solution.
2) The Physical part:
A tank has been gotten and a hole of radius 2 cm have been made, then by getting a Drain hose and connect it with the hole as it is slightly bigger than the hole to make it stabilized and by filling the tank with soil until the hole then the seeds have been put After that the tank was filled with the soil. The parameters that show the applicability and efficiency of the modification have been determined in which they are:
1- Health license
2- TDS Determiner
3- Ph Intervals
4- Growth Success
5- the ability to clean clothes
To resolve the health consequences of the solution, the E-Coli Colonies test has been made which gave us a supportive answer to this mystery by a numerical value that can be valid by the sub-surface irrigation system. The TDS meter has been used to detect the conductivity of the ions of the salt and minerals in the water. Also, to calculate the PH, a PH tab was used which gives us the color that represents the PH degree. Furthermore, the success of the growth of a plant has been determined by trying to grow a coriander plant. Finally, to get sure that the solution can clean we get two clothes and clean and make them dirty and wash them with the solution to make them clean. And all of these test results will be mentioned in the demonstration part.
The problem that faced us:
Materials of Arial ingredients which are: Alkyl (or Alcohol) Ethoxy Sulphate (AES) and Alkyl Sulphate (AS), Amine Oxide, Cyclodextrin, Ethanol, Ethylene Diamine Disuccinate (SS-EDDS),Hydrogen Peroxide, Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (LAS), Mono Ethanol Amine (MEA) 2-aminoethanol or Ethanolamine, Percarbonate, Polyethylene Glycols (PEG), Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) or Polyoxyethylene (POE), Polyvinyl Alcohol, Sodium Hypochlorite, Sodium Triphosphate (STPP), Tetra Acetyl Ethylene Diamine (TAED), Titanium and Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Phthalocyanine Sulphonate (ZPS) cannot achieve our plan as it will harm our soil, so we are going to make our new powder as modification in the washing process all over the world.
we collected different data and information from different articles from the space agency to start in our project:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Water
https://blogs.nasa.gov/NES_Teachers_Corner/2011/08/04/post_1312478994001/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/water-filtration-challenge/
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144383/agriculture-in-egypts-western-desert
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87036/soil-moisture-in-the-united-states
AS we know that whole world surfing from water scarcity but agriculture consumes the most percentage of water (76.7%) , they are increasing pressure comes from climate changing and really it is effect could leads to colossal disasters like soil erosion and biodiversity loss and from consumers' changing tastes in food and concerns about how it is produced and maybe over the coming years would no water to irrigate farmland so no food equal to no life , all of this topics could have one answer is this problem from most critical grand challenges that world suffers from which is: the lack of clean sources of water and no enough water to spend all of this purposes , so we worked to reuse the water that already wasted and we came up with a good project could help to decrease wasting of water and found a new sources of water to irrigated the farmland , in daily life there are many situations that lead to wasting a tremendous amount of water According to the U.S. Geological Survey, about 1.7 trillion gallons of water are wasted every year , what kind of neglect is this ? , you can image if this amount of water reuses by our project and used in irrigate specific farmland , this water also could help reclaiming agriculture land and of course this problem from challenges that faces world . Many lands need water to be planted. By the presence of this water, we will help in biodiversity loss. Finally, our project not aimed to solve one of the world's challenges. Our project could positively affect problems that the climate changes destroyed it.
1) Greywater Reuse(n.d). Retrieved October 30, 2018 from https://greywateraction.org/greywater-reuse/
2) State Research and Extension for subsurface drip irrigation (SDI)(n.d). Retrieved February 17, 2018 from
https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/sdi/
3) Phene, C.J., Davis, K.R., Hutmacher, R.B. and McCormick, R.L. (1987). ADVANTAGES OF
SUBSURFACE IRRIGATION FOR PROCESSING TOMATOES. Acta Hortic. 200, 101-114 DOI:
10.17660/ActaHortic. 1987.200.9 https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1987.200.9
4) James Sleep, Chrissy Rhodes(2016).Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation. The Importance of pH for
Foods: An Investigation of Soils (n.d). Retrieved May 1, 2016 from
https://www.iowaagliteracy.org/Article/The-Importance-of-pH-for-Foods-An-Investigation-of-Soils
5) Stephen R. Grattan(2016). Crop Salt Tolerance. E-journal of University of California. Retrieved March
19, 2016 from https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8562.pdf
6) Safe Drinking Water Foundation : TDS and pH(n.d). Retrieved December 07, 2016 from
https://www.safewater.org/fact-sheets-1/2017/1/23/tds-and-ph
#economic impact #agricultural #water clean sources #water quality #ecofriendly #hardware
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.