Seafood is a food that is widely consumed, but the process to obtain the fish is often times overlooked. Currently, the Arizona Game and Fish Department uses liquid oxygen as their chosen aeration method, which is dumped into the water at their Hatchery. This method poses multiple risks including its far too low temperature, making it dangerous to both the fish and humans in direct contact.
Six students at Arizona State University will participate in the Environmental Competition by EPICS in IEEE, in partnership with the United Engineering Foundation (UEF), to design a better aeration method. The team came up with Project Aeration, which is a middle-way solution that will still support the pre-existing system but in a safer and more efficient way. Their created method will utilize an oxygen diffuser to slowly infiltrate the liquid oxygen in the water, creating a sustained oxygen gas aeration technique.
The team is currently developing a prototype with the goal of finding out how efficient their created method is. The prototype will run through different tests that focus on one variable at a time, such as oxygen bubble size and the amount of pressure needed. The team hopes their system is proven efficient and they can then deploy it in a small section of the hatchery.
Project Aeration’s mission is to help sustain the environment, both inside and outside of the hatchery while providing the best possible fish to its consumers. EPICS in IEEE has funded this project with $5,500 to help them solve this community issue. They will be working alongside AZGFD Hatchery to ensure their created system is acceptable for the fish.