The disputation will be live streamed using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defence will moderate the disputation.
Ex auditorio questions: the chair of the defence will invite the audience to ask ex auditorio questions either written or oral. This can be requested by clicking "Participants" followed by clicking "Raise hand".
The meeting opens for participation just before 13.15 PM, and closes for new participants approximately 15 minutes after the defense has begun.
Trial lecture
Time and place: June 22, 2020 10:15 AM, Zoom
"Possibilities and limitations in urban agriculture, with emphasis on nutrient cycling and heat production."
The meeting opens for participation just before 10.15 PM, and closes for new participants approximately 15 minutes after the trial lecture has begun.
Main research findings
The food we eat can have a huge environmental impact. Steaks, tomatoes and bread are typically farmed and transported using fossil resources, while nutrients are lost and much of the product is wasted on its way to our plates. One way to meet this challenge is to combine biowaste treatment with food cultivation in closed-loop ecosystems. This has been on the agenda of space agencies such as NASA and ESA for decades; to live on Mars, this is the only way. The good news is that this also can be done on Earth.
An increasingly popular way to treat industrial and household food waste is through “anaerobic digestion”, from which the output is fuel gas, CO2 and organic residues. These streams can be connected to controlled environments, such as greenhouses and mushroom farms, to produce sustainable crops. Circular food investigates how the digester residue can be converted to provide crops with both fertiliser and growing medium. The methods are based on natural microbiology and focus on practical techniques for commercial growers.
In addition to developing a complete circular system, the study found the optimal way to grow both button mushrooms and vegetables on digester residue, how to remove toxic heavy metals using mushrooms, and how spent mushroom compost can improve plant growth.
