News
Small-scale bioreactors speed runoff water-cleaning process

Researchers in Minnesota are fine-tuning ways to rid field runoff of unwanted nutrients before they hit lakes and streams by creating a next generation bioreactor.

Bioreactor is a technical sounding name for what typically is a large pit filled with wood chips. The wood-filled trench is built a field’s edge, and water is directed to run into the pit.

Microorganisms in the soil “eat” carbon from the wood and “breathe” nitrates and phosphates left in the water from fertilizing crops. The nutrients that would pollute water downstream are instead turned into gas that releases into the air. READ MORE