• Integrated Sustainability

    Local Food Production Powered by Local Food Waste

     

     

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  • Energy Autonomous

    Multi-profit Aquaponic Farming for Economic Growth

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  • Next Generation Farming

    Healthy Food for Growing Population Anywhere

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October 18, 2016

How Two IIT Scientists Are Using Food Waste To Revolutionize Indoor Farming

http://chicagoinno.streetwise.co/2016/10/18/how-two-iit-scientists-are-using-food-waste-to-revolutionize-indoor-farming/

October 6, 2016

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Here’s How Scraps Can Help Grow The Food Of The Future

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/food-scraps-aquaponics_us_57f4166ce4b015995f2ba397

September 27, 2016

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AquaGrow Named 2016 CleanTech Open Accelerator Semi-Finalist

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https://iit.edu/news/iittoday/?p=57072

Energy Autonomous AquaGrow Container Farm  

Fully Enclosed

AquaGrow container farms enable growing fresh healthy  food 365 days a year, independent of climate, farmland, and with 90% less water than traditional farming.  Easy to operate system includes  advanced monitoring and controls,  improved reliability, optimized efficiency and yields. 

Energy Autonomous

Fully grid independent and powered by local food waste. We've designed and patented novel ergonomic design for anaerobic biodigester which breaks down food waste into methane fuel which is used to generate electricity for the container farm, as well as nutrient rich fertilizer. 

Sustainable and Profitable

Our innovative waste-to-energy-to-food approach enables multiple revenue streams, a sustainable year-round farm business with net zero energy and net positive environmental and social impact. Single container unit will produce $40-80K in profits with payback period of 2-3 years.

Mobile

All functional modules  (biodigester, generator, and  aquaponic system)  are housed inside a standard  45x10x10 ft cargo container, which is mobile and can be relocated closer to the customer if necessary. Small scale of the containerized aquaponic farms lowers the entry barrier and the risks for new farmers, communities and non-profit organizations.

About

At AquaGrow Technologies we are developing a pioneering approach to scalable aquaponic farming through integration of the most advanced energy and precision control technologies for reliability, ease of use and increased productivity. Evolutionary improvements to farming technologies result from man's ability to control his environment. With adverse weather related effects on crop production predicted to increase, soil depletion and contamination, and scarcity of water resources, we believe another level of environmental controls need to be engineered and implemented for addressing the future global food production challenges.


By 2050 farmers will be asked to produce 70% more food than they do today


 Aquaponics is a method of raising fish together with growing plants in a symbiotic environment.  The name “aquaponics” derives from the combination of “aquaculture” (raising fish and other aquatic animals) and “hydroponics” (growing plants in nutrient-rich water). In such a system the fish waste nourishes the plants, and the plants clean the water, which is then returned to the fish. Thus water is circulated through the closed loop without significant loss to the environment. Both aquaculture and hydroponic are complex systems that require a fine balance of chemical and physical system parameters. One errant parameter can cause failure and eventually death in both fish and plants. Even though aquaponic systems have been demonstrated on a small scale commercial use of aquaponic farming is a very high risk proposition. Close monitoring of aquaponic system parameters coupled with accurate feedback system is required for successful large scale aquaponic food production. The size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponics system vary significantly and require dynamic operational modes.


Aquaponic Farming - the Future of Sustainable Food Production


Another challenge in aquaponic farming is high energy requirements, which significantly underpin the profitability of this sustainable farming approach.  Fully enclosed aquaponic farms require electricity for artificial lighting, which on one hand enables stacking the grow beds vertically to increase the density of food productions, but on the other hand significantly adds to the operational costs. That is why most of the existing aquaponic farms utilize greenhouse enclosures to minimize the use of electricity for plant growth, which requires special semi-permanent installations, and relatively large square footage for operations. Typical payback time for an indoor aquaponic farm is 10-20 years, which is also a significant barrier to entering this field. 


Integrated Sustainability is the Key to Resource Efficient Food Production and Continued Economic Growth


AquaGrow Technologies developed an innovative waste-to-energy-to-food approach that can solve  high capital cost, low profitability and reliability challenges of aquaponic farming. By making aquaponics farms rather small scale and modular, we are lowering the entry barrier for farmers, assuming they can expand the scale of operations when small scale farm is successful. The projected payback time for a container farm is 2-3 years. The key to fast payback is net zero energy requirement achieved by integration of waste-to-energy conversion unit, and combination of multiple revenue streams in this new integrated farming approach. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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