Bilal Bomani: Plant fuels that could power a jet

8,976 views ・ 2015-07-15

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Translator: Fran Ontanaya Reviewer: Morton Bast
0
0
7000
00:12
What I'm going to do is, I'm going to explain to you
1
12051
2963
00:15
an extreme green concept
2
15014
2052
00:17
that was developed at NASA's Glenn Research Center
3
17066
2992
00:20
in Cleveland, Ohio.
4
20058
2002
00:22
But before I do that, we have to go over
5
22060
2430
00:24
the definition of what green is,
6
24490
1537
00:26
'cause a lot of us have a different definition of it.
7
26027
2997
00:29
Green. The product is created through
8
29024
1993
00:31
environmentally and socially conscious means.
9
31017
2463
00:33
There's plenty of things that are being called green now.
10
33480
3188
00:36
What does it actually mean?
11
36668
1612
00:38
We use three metrics to determine green.
12
38280
3643
00:41
The first metric is: Is it sustainable?
13
41923
3092
00:45
Which means, are you preserving what you are doing for future use
14
45015
3524
00:48
or for future generations?
15
48539
2495
00:51
Is it alternative? Is it different than what is being used today,
16
51034
3973
00:55
or does it have a lower carbon footprint
17
55007
2805
00:57
than what's used conventionally?
18
57812
2584
01:00
And three: Is it renewable?
19
60396
2835
01:03
Does it come from Earth's natural replenishing resources,
20
63231
3756
01:06
such as sun, wind and water?
21
66987
3100
01:10
Now, my task at NASA is to develop
22
70087
3532
01:13
the next generation of aviation fuels.
23
73619
3196
01:16
Extreme green. Why aviation?
24
76815
2829
01:19
The field of aviation uses more fuel than just about
25
79644
3357
01:23
every other combined. We need to find an alternative.
26
83001
5016
01:28
Also it's a national aeronautics directive.
27
88017
3000
01:31
One of the national aeronautics goals is to develop
28
91017
2668
01:33
the next generation of fuels, biofuels,
29
93685
2696
01:36
using domestic and safe, friendly resources.
30
96381
3710
01:40
Now, combating that challenge
31
100091
2868
01:42
we have to also meet the big three metric —
32
102959
2890
01:45
Actually, extreme green for us is all three together;
33
105849
3813
01:49
that's why you see the plus there. I was told to say that.
34
109662
2390
01:52
So it has to be the big three at GRC. That's another metric.
35
112052
4997
01:57
Ninety-seven percent of the world's water is saltwater.
36
117049
5951
02:03
How about we use that? Combine that with number three.
37
123000
4010
02:07
Do not use arable land.
38
127010
3032
02:10
Because crops are already growing on that land
39
130042
2180
02:12
that's very scarce around the world.
40
132222
2797
02:15
Number two: Don't compete with food crops.
41
135019
3007
02:18
That's already a well established entity, they don't need another entry.
42
138026
4417
02:22
And lastly the most precious resource we have on this Earth
43
142443
3948
02:26
is fresh water. Don't use fresh water.
44
146391
4660
02:31
If 97.5 percent of the world's water is saltwater,
45
151051
2971
02:34
2.5 percent is fresh water. Less than a half percent
46
154022
3277
02:37
of that is accessible for human use.
47
157299
1761
02:39
But 60 percent of the population lives within that one percent.
48
159060
3961
02:43
So, combating my problem was, now I have to be extreme green
49
163021
4992
02:48
and meet the big three. Ladies and gentlemen,
50
168013
2248
02:50
welcome to the GreenLab Research Facility.
51
170261
3746
02:54
This is a facility dedicated to the next generation
52
174007
2935
02:56
of aviation fuels using halophytes.
53
176942
3145
03:00
A halophyte is a salt-tolerating plant.
54
180087
2978
03:03
Most plants don't like salt, but halophytes tolerate salt.
55
183065
4028
03:07
We also are using weeds
56
187093
2995
03:10
and we are also using algae.
57
190088
2931
03:13
The good thing about our lab is, we've had
58
193019
1991
03:15
3,600 visitors in the last two years.
59
195010
3010
03:18
Why do you think that's so?
60
198020
2002
03:20
Because we are on to something special.
61
200022
4006
03:24
So, in the lower you see the GreenLab obviously,
62
204028
2569
03:26
and on the right hand side you'll see algae.
63
206597
2452
03:29
If you are into the business of the next generation
64
209049
2953
03:32
of aviation fuels, algae is a viable option,
65
212002
2320
03:34
there's a lot of funding right now,
66
214322
1679
03:36
and we have an algae to fuels program.
67
216001
2021
03:38
There's two types of algae growing.
68
218022
2000
03:40
One is a closed photobioreactor that you see here,
69
220022
2993
03:43
and what you see on the other side is our species —
70
223015
4021
03:47
we are currently using a species called Scenedesmus dimorphus.
71
227036
3970
03:51
Our job at NASA is to take the experimental and computational
72
231006
4306
03:55
and make a better mixing for the closed photobioreactors.
73
235312
4695
04:00
Now the problems with closed photobioreactors are:
74
240007
2037
04:02
They are quite expensive, they are automated,
75
242044
2731
04:04
and it's very difficult to get them in large scale.
76
244775
3028
04:07
So on large scale what do they use?
77
247803
1625
04:09
We use open pond systems. Now, around the world
78
249428
3493
04:12
they are growing algae, with this racetrack design
79
252921
3521
04:16
that you see here. Looks like an oval with
80
256442
2449
04:18
a paddle wheel and mixes really well,
81
258891
2137
04:21
but when it gets around the last turn, which I call turn four — it's stagnant.
82
261028
4058
04:25
We actually have a solution for that.
83
265086
1990
04:27
In the GreenLab in our open pond system
84
267076
2964
04:30
we use something that happens in nature: waves.
85
270040
3015
04:33
We actually use wave technology on our open pond systems.
86
273055
3692
04:36
We have 95 percent mixing and our lipid content is higher
87
276747
4684
04:41
than a closed photobioreactor system,
88
281431
2618
04:44
which we think is significant.
89
284049
1981
04:46
There is a drawback to algae, however: It's very expensive.
90
286030
4032
04:50
Is there a way to produce algae inexpensively?
91
290062
5103
04:55
And the answer is: yes.
92
295165
1861
04:57
We do the same thing we do with halophytes,
93
297026
3023
05:00
and that is: climatic adaptation.
94
300049
3955
05:04
In our GreenLab we have six primary ecosystems
95
304004
2812
05:06
that range from freshwater all the way to saltwater.
96
306816
3971
05:10
What we do: We take a potential species, we start at freshwater,
97
310787
3759
05:14
we add a little bit more salt, when the second tank here
98
314546
2728
05:17
will be the same ecosystem as Brazil —
99
317274
2132
05:19
right next to the sugar cane fields you can have our plants —
100
319406
3096
05:22
the next tank represents Africa, the next tank represents Arizona,
101
322502
4243
05:26
the next tank represents Florida,
102
326745
2311
05:29
and the next tank represents California or the open ocean.
103
329056
3863
05:32
What we are trying to do is to come up with a single species
104
332919
4095
05:37
that can survive anywhere in the world, where there's barren desert.
105
337014
6005
05:43
We are being very successful so far.
106
343019
2038
05:45
Now, here's one of the problems.
107
345057
2644
05:47
If you are a farmer, you need five things to be successful: You need seeds,
108
347701
5727
05:53
you need soil, you need water and you need sun,
109
353428
3615
05:57
and the last thing that you need is fertilizer.
110
357043
3570
06:00
Most people use chemical fertilizers. But guess what?
111
360613
3555
06:04
We do not use chemical fertilizer.
112
364168
2700
06:06
Wait a second! I just saw lots of greenery in your GreenLab. You have to use fertilizer.
113
366868
5155
06:12
Believe it or not, in our analysis of our saltwater ecosystems
114
372023
4205
06:16
80 percent of what we need are in these tanks themselves.
115
376228
3800
06:20
The 20 percent that's missing is nitrogen and phosphorous.
116
380028
3999
06:24
We have a natural solution: fish.
117
384027
2056
06:26
No we don't cut up the fish and put them in there.
118
386083
3888
06:29
Fish waste is what we use. As a matter of fact
119
389971
3883
06:33
we use freshwater mollies, that we've used our climatic adaptation technique
120
393854
4165
06:38
from freshwater all the way to seawater.
121
398019
3022
06:41
Freshwater mollies: cheap, they love to make babies,
122
401041
6996
06:48
and they love to go to the bathroom.
123
408037
1809
06:49
And the more they go to the bathroom, the more fertilizer we get,
124
409846
2155
06:52
the better off we are, believe it or not.
125
412001
2539
06:54
It should be noted that we use sand as our soil,
126
414540
5265
06:59
regular beach sand. Fossilized coral.
127
419805
4225
07:04
So a lot of people ask me, "How did you get started?"
128
424030
3971
07:08
Well, we got started in what we call the indoor biofuels lab.
129
428001
5005
07:13
It's a seedling lab. We have 26 different species of halophytes,
130
433006
4395
07:17
and five are winners. What we do here is —
131
437412
3272
07:20
actually it should be called a death lab, 'cause we try to
132
440684
2825
07:23
kill the seedlings, make them rough —
133
443509
2589
07:26
and then we come to the GreenLab.
134
446098
2320
07:28
What you see in the lower corner
135
448418
1758
07:30
is a wastewater treatment plant experiment
136
450176
2188
07:32
that we are growing, a macro-algae that I'll talk about in a minute.
137
452364
3693
07:36
And lastly, it's me actually working in the lab to prove to you I do work,
138
456057
3986
07:40
I don't just talk about what I do.
139
460043
3732
07:43
Here's the plant species. Salicornia virginica.
140
463775
3230
07:47
It's a wonderful plant. I love that plant.
141
467005
3559
07:50
Everywhere we go we see it. It's all over the place, from Maine
142
470564
3466
07:54
all the way to California. We love that plant.
143
474030
3011
07:57
Second is Salicornia bigelovii. Very difficult to get around the world.
144
477041
4965
08:02
It is the highest lipid content that we have,
145
482006
2046
08:04
but it has a shortcoming: It's short.
146
484052
3990
08:08
Now you take europaea, which is the largest or the tallest plant that we have.
147
488042
5121
08:13
And what we are trying to do
148
493163
1918
08:15
with natural selection or adaptive biology — combine all three
149
495081
4381
08:19
to make a high-growth, high-lipid plant.
150
499462
4116
08:23
Next, when a hurricane decimated the Delaware Bay — soybean fields gone —
151
503578
7264
08:30
we came up with an idea: Can you have a plant
152
510842
2864
08:33
that has a land reclamation positive in Delaware? And the answer is yes.
153
513706
5311
08:39
It's called seashore mallow. Kosteletzkya virginica —
154
519017
3974
08:42
say that five times fast if you can.
155
522991
3018
08:46
This is a 100 percent usable plant. The seeds: biofuels. The rest: cattle feed.
156
526009
7588
08:53
It's there for 10 years; it's working very well.
157
533597
3439
08:57
Now we get to Chaetomorpha.
158
537036
3327
09:00
This is a macro-algae that loves
159
540363
3222
09:03
excess nutrients. If you are in the aquarium industry
160
543585
2422
09:06
you know we use it to clean up dirty tanks.
161
546007
2811
09:08
This species is so significant to us.
162
548818
4211
09:13
The properties are very close to plastic.
163
553029
3971
09:17
We are trying right now to convert this macro-algae into a bioplastic.
164
557000
5378
09:22
If we are successful, we will revolutionize the plastics industry.
165
562378
4673
09:27
So, we have a seed to fuel program.
166
567051
3522
09:30
We have to do something with this biomass that we have.
167
570573
2957
09:33
And so we do G.C. extraction, lipid optimization, so on and so forth,
168
573530
4509
09:38
because our goal really is to come up with
169
578039
3687
09:41
the next generation of aviation fuels, aviation specifics, so on and so forth.
170
581726
3910
09:45
So far we talked about water and fuel,
171
585636
4420
09:50
but along the way we found out something interesting about Salicornia:
172
590056
6944
09:57
It's a food product.
173
597000
3686
10:00
So we talk about ideas worth spreading, right?
174
600686
2813
10:03
How about this: In sub-Saharan Africa, next to the sea, saltwater,
175
603499
6854
10:10
barren desert, how about we take that plant,
176
610353
4859
10:15
plant it, half use for food, half use for fuel.
177
615212
4832
10:20
We can make that happen, inexpensively.
178
620044
3801
10:23
You can see there's a greenhouse in Germany
179
623845
2698
10:26
that sells it as a health food product.
180
626543
2464
10:29
This is harvested, and in the middle here is a shrimp dish, and it's being pickled.
181
629007
5226
10:34
So I have to tell you a joke. Salicornia is known as sea beans,
182
634233
4613
10:38
saltwater asparagus and pickle weed.
183
638846
3473
10:42
So we are pickling pickle weed in the middle.
184
642319
2731
10:45
Oh, I thought it was funny. (Laughter)
185
645050
2802
10:47
And at the bottom is seaman's mustard. It does make sense,
186
647852
3373
10:51
this is a logical snack. You have mustard,
187
651225
2387
10:53
you are a seaman, you see the halophyte, you mix it together,
188
653612
3148
10:56
it's a great snack with some crackers.
189
656760
2262
10:59
And last, garlic with Salicornia, which is what I like.
190
659022
7000
11:06
So, water, fuel and food.
191
666022
4975
11:10
None of this is possible without the GreenLab team.
192
670997
3551
11:14
Just like the Miami Heat has the big three, we have the big three at NASA GRC.
193
674548
4981
11:19
That's myself, professor Bob Hendricks, our fearless leader, and Dr. Arnon Chait.
194
679529
5479
11:25
The backbone of the GreenLab is students.
195
685008
4529
11:29
Over the last two years we've had 35 different students
196
689537
3915
11:33
from around the world working at GreenLab.
197
693452
3155
11:36
As a matter fact my division chief says a lot, "You have a green university."
198
696607
4409
11:41
I say, "I'm okay with that, 'cause we are nurturing
199
701016
2535
11:43
the next generation of extreme green thinkers, which is significant."
200
703551
5024
11:48
So, in first summary I presented to you what we think
201
708575
5321
11:53
is a global solution for food, fuel and water.
202
713896
6127
12:00
There's something missing to be complete.
203
720023
2994
12:03
Clearly we use electricity. We have a solution for you —
204
723017
4791
12:07
We're using clean energy sources here.
205
727808
3249
12:11
So, we have two wind turbines connected to the GreenLab,
206
731057
4421
12:15
we have four or five more hopefully coming soon.
207
735478
3527
12:19
We are also using something that is quite interesting —
208
739005
3610
12:22
there is a solar array field at NASA's Glenn Research Center,
209
742615
4623
12:27
hasn't been used for 15 years.
210
747238
3142
12:30
Along with some of my electrical engineering colleagues,
211
750380
2763
12:33
we realized that they are still viable,
212
753143
2143
12:35
so we are refurbishing them right now.
213
755286
2756
12:38
In about 30 days or so they'll be connected to the GreenLab.
214
758042
5036
12:43
And the reason why you see red, red and yellow, is
215
763078
2926
12:46
a lot of people think NASA employees don't work on Saturday —
216
766004
3267
12:49
This is a picture taken on Saturday.
217
769271
2918
12:52
There are no cars around, but you see my truck in yellow. I work on Saturday. (Laughter)
218
772189
4625
12:56
This is a proof to you that I'm working.
219
776814
1833
12:58
'Cause we do what it takes to get the job done, most people know that.
220
778647
3900
13:02
Here's a concept with this:
221
782547
2878
13:05
We are using the GreenLab for a micro-grid test bed
222
785425
5556
13:10
for the smart grid concept in Ohio.
223
790981
4063
13:15
We have the ability to do that, and I think it's going to work.
224
795044
5907
13:20
So, GreenLab Research Facility.
225
800951
5093
13:26
A self-sustainable renewable energy ecosystem was presented today.
226
806044
5023
13:31
We really, really hope this concept catches on worldwide.
227
811067
5947
13:37
We think we have a solution for food, water, fuel and now energy. Complete.
228
817014
9050
13:46
It's extreme green, it's sustainable, alternative and renewable
229
826064
6125
13:52
and it meets the big three at GRC:
230
832189
3838
13:56
Don't use arable land, don't compete with food crops,
231
836027
4991
14:01
and most of all, don't use fresh water.
232
841018
3062
14:04
So I get a lot of questions about, "What are you doing in that lab?"
233
844080
4974
14:09
And I usually say, "None of your business, that's what I'm doing in the lab." (Laughter)
234
849054
5753
14:14
And believe it or not, my number one goal
235
854807
3543
14:18
for working on this project is
236
858350
2710
14:21
I want to help save the world.
237
861060
4951
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7