Environmental Solutions

Our sustainable development concept is based on economic progress with minimal collateral damage to the ecosystem.  How to gain economic and social benefits with minimal environmental footprints. We provide effective and resilient engineering solutions with innovative “green” and “blue” technologies and smart monitoring to preserve and protect ecosystems.

Imagine a simple cascading concept of ‘thermal pollution’ where an air conditioner operated in a crowded urban community discharges heat through the condenser, warming the surrounding air, prompting the neighborhood to add more AC, and causing an even hotter environment.  Another example is in agriculture, where synthetic agriculture chemical sprayed to prevent crop pest infestations causes damage to the soil and water ecosystem, prompting the next crop to use more chemicals to offset the loss. The challenge is how not to make the cure worse than the illness.

NET-ZERO:

Our Net-Zero concept is based on the philosophy that we want to contain the impact of our actions within our “sustainable biodome.”  We minimize our environmental footprints through innovative technologies and by cleaning up after ourselves through recycling, reusing, and reducing.

In a factory of ‘sustainable biodome,’ air, water, energy, and other resources are conserved as much as possible while producing economic goods. Innovative technologies will be used to balance effectiveness, resiliency, and sustainability.

Net zero helps in mitigating climate change and achieving carbon neutrality.

RESPONSIBLE GROWTH:

Responsible growth can be achieved through innovative technology that leverages many facets of businesses. As an alternative to outdoor agriculture, Sustainable Controlled Environment Agriculture could produce more output in greenhouses with smaller land units while preserving resources and minimizing discharge.

With business innovation, large enterprises could work seamlessly with small and medium-sized enterprises, each skilled at manufacturing specific goods, to manufacture products while promoting healthy and resilient business ecosystems, creating jobs, and benefiting the community. This system could be designed to prevent duplications and minimizes environmental impact.

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS:

Our Environmental Solutions can be categorized into clean water, clean energy, clean air, and clean earth and ocean technologies.

A. CLEAN WATER TECHNOLOGY

Our clean water technology encompasses both water reclamation systems for residential and municipal scale and freshwater generators using Thermal Distillation and Reverse Osmosis.

Water Reclamation System:

Our water reclamation system varies from small residential units with a capacity of 1,250 gallons per day to the larger municipal scale of 1 million gallons per day.

The operations are based on the combination of anaerobic and aerobic digestion. The small residential unit is pumped to the small pipe-influent delivery network to the more extensive treatment plant.  This eliminates the requirements for more extensive, expensive gravity piping and lifts system. This system allows flexibility to the developers as more units are built—the anaerobic portion of the treatment digest most of the solids near the point of origin. The effluent leaving the tank is pumped to a more extensive treatment aerobic system allowing effluent of 10 mg/l of BOD, TSS, and Total Nitrogen.

The municipal scale water treatment can be built as a modular treatment plant where larger units of 25,000 to 1 million gallons per day.

Freshwater Generator:

We could produce freshwater from seawater by distillation, where thermal energy is employed to evaporate freshwater, and Reverse Osmosis, where the membrane operated at high pressure separates salt-rich water from the freshwater.

Thermal Distillation:

The process is based on a thermally driven Multiple Stage Flash Evaporator (MSF) and Multiple Effect Distillation (MED).  Because high temperature is required in evaporation, ideally, these units will be built next to the CHP generator, where the waste heat can be utilized. 

A multiple-effect flash evaporator (MSF) uses one effect’s energy from water vapor to heat the next point at lower boiling. Thus, it is called multiple effects.

Multiple effect distillation (MED) also occurs in various stages based on evaporation and condensation. The difference is in the heat transfer methods.  While in MED, the evaporation occurs on the heat transfer surface, the evaporation at MSF only occurs via convective flash to produce vapor. Alternatively, Reversed Osmosis (RO) can be employed where a heating source is not readily available.

Reverse Osmosis:

Reverse osmosis operates by forcing high-pressure salt water or water containing suspended solids through a semipermeable membrane to separate water from concentrated solutions. The applied pressure overcomes the potential chemical difference between the two liquids. The solute containing large molecules or ions is retained at the high-pressure side and pure water at the other. Typically, water moves from low to high solutes in a membrane system. In reverse osmosis, the applied pressures push water from high to low solute, thus reversing the process.  

RO system could be from small residential, around 75 gallons per day, with an applied pressure of 100 psi, to an industrial scale of 1 million gallons per day.

B. CLEAN ENERGY TECHNOLOGY

Our sustainable energy solutions combine both renewable energy and natural gas generator. Natural gas can be from fossil fuel or renewable natural gas from biowaste.  Renewable energy can come mainly from solar, wind, and other sources, including hydro and biomass.

Our generators can take multiple fuels from natural gas, renewable natural gas, and in the future, hydrogen gas (see Energy Solutions for detail)

Thermal waste from Quad CHP can be captured and used in industry for heating and cooling (absorption chiller). This brings the overall efficiency to 92%. 

Carbon capture advanced SCR to capture CO2 from generators to be cleaned and used as feedstock in our greenhouse agriculture, converted into dry ice, used in carbonated drinks, or the future, synthesized into renewable plastics (Rutgers).

C. CLEAN AIR TECHNOLOGY

The technology can be divided into Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and Outdoor Air Quality.

Real-time monitoring of indoor air quality, tracking, and reporting to provide building owners, facility managers, and building occupants with performance indicators and service compliance.  It can be implemented on a commercial building, schools, healthcare facilities, or other public facilities on an HVAC rooftop or inside individual rooms., to ensure meeting monitoring compliance of ASHRAE, CDC, OSHA, and other agencies.

Outdoor Air Quality monitoring at the municipal scale, tracking both natural (e.g., pollen count, dust, mold spores) and anthropogenic (carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide).

As pollution levels manifest differently across the area (spatial domain) and time (temporal domain), a dynamic map can be constructed to track pollution sources that could be miles away, such as industrial emissions or volcanoes.

D. CLEAN EARTH AND OCEAN TECHNOLOGY

Remote monitoring of earth and ocean resources, including land, water, air, and natural resources, to provide live and actionable feedback and to collect data for long-term trend analysis. 

Long-term impact study of saltwater incursion, coastal degradation, and agriculture runoff by placing sensors linked to existing lighting fixtures.    

Advanced telemetry monitors waterways, locks, rivers, and remote buoys, detect and assess flood risk, or give early warning in case of oil spillage or pollution discharge.  Weather sensors at remote locations provide large-scale mapping.  Data can be securely transmitted and mapped out on the centralized dashboard.  Remote sensors can track environmental impact in remote areas, for example, tropical forests impacted by global warming or the ice melting of remote mountains. Computer vision AI could track wildlife and change in their ecosystem.

Overfishing, boating damages, pollution, temperature rise, and increasing acidity are impacting fragile Coral Reef Ecosystems.  Our team is developing an innovative system combining advanced remote sensors, spectral imaging, communication networks, and AI technologies to monitor coral reef health and assess the potential environmental damage.

E. BESST SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS

Transform your business with our cutting-edge BESST environmental consulting services, where sustainability meets smart technology for a greener future. Our expert consultants specialize in providing comprehensive solutions to address environmental challenges related to air quality, water conservation, soil health, and sustainable energy practices. Leveraging the power of advanced technologies, we help you optimize resource usage, reduce environmental impact, and enhance overall efficiency. Whether you're seeking to improve air quality through smart monitoring systems, implement water management strategies, promote soil health, or embrace renewable energy solutions, our team is dedicated to guiding you towards a more sustainable and eco-friendlier path. Join us in creating a healthier planet for future generations while achieving operational excellence and cost savings for your business. Embrace the future of environmental sustainability with our tailored consulting services. 

For more information: Smart Systems — BESST