The project objective is to design a microbrewery using wastewater and other environmentally friendly processes. The design includes treating effluent from a wastewater-treatment plant using reverse osmosis, ozone and ultraviolet light to create a safe, reusable water source for brewing.

A biodigester uses spent grains to produce methane, which can be used as a heat source for the brewing process. Digested grains are fed back into the process and used as the carrier material for immobilized yeast. Two different types of packed reactor are used in order to produce the best flavor possible.

These reactors allow long periods of continuous fermentation with less downtime, and enable control of the amount of beer produced. The brewery is designed to produce 10,000 barrels per year.

Tannic acid is a polyphenol found some plants and trees that causes a dry mouthfeel by decreasing saliva levels. It is also used in the food-processing, cosmetic and anticorrosion industries. Tannic acid is traditionally extracted from high-concentration sources such as pomegranates, but it also exists in many plants native to the Southwest.

The goal of this project is to explore the feasibility of extracting tannic acid from mesquite bark. Using a common solvent, a group of compounds was extracted from the biomass. The extract was separated using column chromatography and analyzed using common lab techniques.

After achieving the desired purity, the team designed a plan for a pilot-scale plant that incorporated calculations of economic feasibility, market demand, energy consumption, process schematics, and future outlook.

The goal of this project is to design sustainable brewing processes, such as heat-conservation methods, rainwater harvesting, and improved cleaning methods.

The team designed the processes for brewing companies that typically produce 10,000 barrels of beer a year and emphasize environmental safety and sustainability.

Rainwater harvesting for day-to-day washing and rinsing reduces municipal water usage. New cleaning methods and chemicals that are less harsh on the municipal wastewater system further reduce the brewery’s impact

The dairy-processing industry creates a significant amount of wastewater contaminated with biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, and heavy metals.

Energy demands of traditional wastewater-treatment methods are high, and therefore costly. Aerobic bioreactors known as vermifilters are a proven low-energy method of reducing these contaminants in wastewater.

The team researched, developed and tested a small-scale vermifiltration process that will scale up to remediate the 500,000 gallons of dairy wastewater per day produced by the sponsor’s plant.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of stomach flu in young children and accounts for 453,000 deaths every year worldwide. Only 19 percent of the world has been immunized against rotavirus, and there is a substantial need for additional vaccination.

The project team designed a facility capable of manufacturing a rotavirus vaccine on a large scale. The vaccine-manufacturing process has three stages: mammalian cells are grown and infected with a small amount of rotavirus, which then rapidly multiplies; the attenuated virus is filtered from the cells and concentrated; and the final vaccine is formulated, freeze dried and packaged for distribution.

This project’s goal is to design a 5,000 barrel-per-day alkylation unit to be built into an existing refinery in Houston. The alkylate is manufactured using isobutylene and isobutane with a sulfuric acid catalyst.

Concurrent with the alkylate manufacture, impurities in the isobutylene and isobutane feeds, such as n-butane, are separated out and sold. The design includes construction of an acid-regeneration unit so that acid regeneration can be done on site.

The final alkylate product, isooctane, is sent to the refinery to raise the octane content of the gasoline it produces.

The team set out to create a process to remove algae and excess nutrients from an ocean to restore a once-thriving coral reef and the life it supported. Biosphere 2, the Earth systems science research facility in Oracle, Arizona, is equipped with a 700,000-gallon ocean, which the team used as a basis for modeling ocean water reclamation and observing ocean life.

The design concept uses biological and mechanical processes to restore ocean conditions to similar to those found in the Sea of Cortez. These include a hydroponic system with an affinity for nitrogen and phosphorus uptake, ion-exchange columns to remove ammonium and nitrate ions, and drum filters to eliminate the invasion of algae and harmful bacteria.

The design aims to add sand filters, a plate-and-frame heat exchanger, and a 400-nanometer wavelength ultraviolet light. This design will be the basis of a sustainable Biosphere 2 project that ensures the survival of ocean organisms while keeping a low environmental footprint.

The goal of this project is to create a climate-resilient water-treatment plant and solar energy system housed in a shipping container that supports a hydroponic or aquaponic system.

After assessing customer or community resources, the container setup can be modified to intake, treat and recycle rainwater, grey water and run-off water. Solar energy powers the filtration and ultraviolet disinfection treatment process. Introducing an aquaponic system provides plants with naturally produced nutrients. Water treated to potable standards can be used by plants and for human consumption.

These features make the pod portable, customizable and easy to maintain. Rural communities with limited access to basic utilities can benefit from this project, as can anyone who wants to rely less on the grid or be completely off-grid.

The leaching solution used in mines for copper extraction contains rare earth elements. The objective of this project is to design an industrial scale-up of a process to selectively recover and concentrate rare earth elements yttrium and neodymium from a copper pregnant leach solution.

A laboratory-scale version of this process has been developed at the University of Arizona by researchers in the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering. This process incorporates a slip-and-recycle stream into the current copper-extraction process to maximize cost-effectiveness and sustainability.

This design includes a feasibility study of multiple rare earth processing methods, such as solvent extraction and ion exchange. The resulting high-purity neodymium and yttrium metals could help meet growing global demand for rare earth minerals.

The team analyzed the complexity, efficiency, economics and environmental impact of batch and continuous ibuprofen-manufacturing processes to determine which was superior.

Continuous production of pharmaceuticals has advantages over traditional batch processing, which is slow due to downtime spent cleaning and performing quality checks after production cycles. Continuous manufacturing, however, sends materials through a nonstop process until the final product is completed.

Continuous processing is faster, more efficient, and safer due to reduced human involvement. After initial investment in a continuous pharmaceutical production process, this method could be a less expensive way to produce pharmaceuticals, with the potential for more affordable products.