P16488: Spirulina Production to Combat Malnutrition

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Project Summary	Project Information
For an updated project description, click on the following link for the Project Readiness Package. Spirulina is a blue-green algae with nutritional content including protein, micronutrients, zinc, iron, GLA, chlorophyll, phycocyanins, and omega-3 fatty acids. Its high nutritional density makes it a treatment for malnutrition in women, children, and adolescent girls. Currently, Spirulina is grown by small, low-tech farms that sell 80% of what they produce to subsidize Spirulina for the local community due to high production costs. There is a greater demand for Spirulina than what can be currently provided to the local community. Quality is also a concern as contamination, moisture, and nutritional content are not consistent. The goal of this project is to analyze and improve the current cultivation process so that it can be implemented in the farms in India. Deliverables include a tested prototype, economic analysis of the improved system, confirmation of product quality, and standard operating procedures for implementation. The proposed solution should minimize manual labor, electricity consumption, and maintain or improve Spirulina quality. If you would like to learn more about the current production process of Spirulina, please see '''Sustainable Approaches to Combat Malnutrition''' by Urs Heierli Local woman collecting the dry Spirulina Children from a large Mumbai slum eating Spirulina chikkies	Project Name Spirulina Production to combat Malnutrition Project Number P16488 Project Family project family (if relevant) Start Term 2151 End Term 2155 Faculty Guide Sarah Brownell (abeie@rit.edu) Primary Customer : Sponsor (financial support) RIT

Final Design

The team's final broom and tank design can be seen below. More information about the designs and the final suggested media composition can be found in the System Verification page.

Final Broom Design

Final Baffle Design in a 3x6 meter tank

With the final broom and tank design the amount of labor needed to agitate the tank decreased from 12 workers to 4. This means there is a reduction of annual labor cost from 195,840 Rupees for 10 months to 65,280 Rupees. This translates to a reduction of 75.56 Rupees per kg of Spirulina produced. The new media formulation including the Cow Dung Ash would decrease the cost of media by 20%. The current media cost shown in the "Sustainable Approaches to Combat Malnutrition" paper states that the cost of nutrients us 24,000 Rupees for 10 months. This means the reduced cost would be 19,200 Rupees for 10 months.

Team Members

Left to Right: Bethany Davis,Dana Fisk,Joseph Majo,Camila Gomez-Serrano,Jordan Russ

Member	Major	Role	Contact
Joseph Majo	Industrial Engineer	Project Manager	jmm2095@rit.edu
Dana Fisk	Mechanical Engineer	Technical Coordinator	dnf2003@rit.edu
Camila Gomez-Serrano	Mechanical Engineer	Technical Coordinator	cag1729@rit.edu
Jordan Russ	Biomedical Engineer	Customer Liaison	jmr1649@rit.edu
Bethany Davis	Industrial Engineer	Process Coordinator	bld1190@rit.edu

MSD I Table of Contents

Planning & Execution	Problem Definition	Systems Design	Subsystem Design	Detailed Design	Complete Design
Team Member Roles Norms & Values Project Plan Risk Assessment Meeting Notes Peer Reviews Project Photos and Videos Imagine RIT	Team Vision Project Background Project Summary Use Cases Project Goals Customer Requirements Engineering Requirements House of Quality Design Review Materials	Team Vision-Design Phase Functional Decomposition Benchmarking Concept Development Morphological Chart Concept Selection Systems Architecture Feasibility Designs and Flowcharts Design Review Materials Updated Risks Plans for next phase	Vision for Subsystems-Level Design Phase Project Background System Concept Design & Concept Optimization Proof of Concept (POC) Test Plans Risk Assessment Design Review Materials Plans for the next phase	Vision for Detailed Design Phase Project Background Subsystems Review Test Plans Designs and Flowcharts Risk Assessment Design Review Materials Plans for the next phase	Vision for Complete Design Phase Project Background Initial Design Process & Documentation Finalized Design (Prototype) Process & Documentation Cost Analysis Meeting with Jeff Lodge BOM Risk Assessment MSD Plan II Gate Review Design Review Materials

MSD II Table of Contents

Build & Test Prep	Subsystem Build & Test	Integrated System Build & Test	System Validation	System Verification	Final Review
Project Plan Project Updates Test Plan Summary Risk and Problem Tracking	Team Vision for Subsystem Build & Test Subsystems Testing Updated Test Plans Other Areas of Focus Risk and Problem Tracking	Team Vision Test Results Risk and Problem Tracking	Team Vision Project Plan Test Results Summary Costing Updates Imagine RIT and other Deliverables Risk Assessment and Problem Tracking Design Review Materials Plans for next phase	Team Vision Test Results Summary Risk and Problem Tracking Final Project Documentation Suggestions Moving Forward Design Review Materials

Acknowledgements

RIT
Sarah Brownell for guidance and support
Jeff Lodge
Mr. David Lake
Dr. Paul Craig
Mr. David Kozlowski
Prof. Scott Wolcott
Ms. Judith Foster
Antenna Nutritech Foundation

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