Excess heat generated from gasification can be captured and used for process heat in any application. Since there will be no edible residuals from gasification, fish feed will have to be produced in another manner. To this end, we will conduct production and use trials with feeds ranging from alfalfa leaf, small grains, soy, corn, legume lawn clippings, algae (spirulina), and duckweed. The feed ration does not need to be complex, only complete. Field crops will be irrigated with fish effluent during the summer in a controlled test. The control will be plain water and yields will be noted and recorded. All other parameters will be constant.

Compost-Based Aquaponic Greenhouses

As vegetables are grown and sold, there will be a certain amount of waste plant parts — roots, stems, and trimmings — which will be composted along with grass clippings, leaves, and other materials the project has available, including the ashes from the outdoor furnaces. Ashes are a rich source of boron — an element lacking in most northeastern soils. The project will use the compost in a separate growing system that will allow for the growth of root crops in pure compost, and irrigated with fish tank water.