VCE Environmental Science

This week we had an interesting visit form our CSIRO “Scientists in Schools” partner, Melissa Toilf. Melissa is an environmental scientist who works for the Department of Land and Water, specializing in research about wastewater treatment. One of her current projects is looking at producing biodiesel from algae grown in wastewater. The algae uses the nutrients (nitrogen and phosphoros) in the water for growth, it is then harvested and separated to extract the fatty acids, which can be used as a form of biodiesel fuel. Although this process is not currently commercially viable, the scientists at CSIRO are working on improving the techniques  to enable more sustainable water treatment and energy use.

You all should be working hard, revising for exams at present, so use your time effectively. Past exams are available on the VCAA website, and you would benefit from completing at least five of these prior to your final examination.

Photo Source

The Midfield Group includes five businesses in the chain from paddock to consumer -

1. Pastoral company

2. Livestock freight and refridgerated transport vehicles

3. Abatoir

4. Meat packaging, export and retail sales

5. Midfield co-products (such as blood and bone, tallow and meat meal)

The company aim to be Australia’s most efficient, quality producer of red meat. They state “ We also have our commitment to reducing our environmental footprint and creating a secure a healthy future for you and your children in writing; we adhere to our own Environmental Management System, which encompasses the minimisation of greenhouse gas emissions, recycling waste materials and the efficient use of energy.” Specifically they are developing an alternative fuel for their transport vehicles from waste tallow – converting animal fat into biodiesel. They are also planning to reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by using geothermal water and a gas co-generation plant to heat water for cleaning purposes. They recycle water used in the abatoir and stomach contents of slaughtered animals are returned to their pastoral properties as a mulch/fertilizer.

During the school holidays this extraordinary vessel visited Port Fairy – the Earthrace operates entirely on biodiesel, and has sped around the world several times, spreading the message about alternative fuels. It holds the world record for circumnavigating the globe (a distance of 24,000 nautical miles) in a speedboat – 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes. The vessel is ‘carbon neutral’ - meaning that it has achieved net carbon emissions by balancing it’s greenhouse gas emissions with carbon sequestration or other offset methods.