Ms. Tu Le, working on Dr. Nirmala Chandrasekharan’s research team Cisco Sustainability, focuses on biogas production as a means of renewable energy.  She and Dr. C. are designing and developing a scaled up version of a bench-top anaerobic digester.  The current model was fabricated from a plastic trash can (see photo, left).

The digester will be located adjacent to the Hi Vac building on the Cisco Abilene campus.  Having a permanent area for conducting sustainability projects opens up many possibilities, including a place for student meetings (Sustainability Club) and showcasing projects of value to our community.

Dr. C has ordered a stove to connect to the methane outlet so that she can measure the amount of cooking time (per day) that the output would provide — showing that this project  has real-world applications.   Dr. C has has named the spot the “Go Green Nook” and plans to work with the sustainability club to come up with other ways the nook could be used to showcase “green” solutions for the Abilene area.

We will surely be seeing more activity from this team!