July 6 Webinar: Repurposed Bottle Caps for Nutrient Removal in the IRL

An MRC Lunch & Learn Webinar

July 6, 2021
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Watch our July Lunch & Learn Webinar, “Restoring Natural Nutrient Removal in the IRL with Repurposed Plastic Bottle Caps,” with Abbey Gering, a graduate student at Florida Tech studying chemical oceanography in the Fox Biogeochemistry Lab. See below for video from this event.

Biological processes known as nitrification/denitrification occur naturally in marine ecosystems and are carried out by specific bacteria. These bacteria remove nitrogen by converting available forms of nitrogen to inert N2 gas.

The Fox Biogeochemistry lab at Florida Tech studies these processes and is working to promote natural nutrient removal in the Indian River Lagoon by utilizing repurposed plastic bottle caps as media for the bacteria to grow on in a treatment system. Results from the treatment system have shown greater than 70% decreases in total dissolved nitrogen and greater than 90% decreases in ammonium concentrations in as little as eight hours!

About Our Presenter

Abbey Gering is graduate student at Florida Tech studying chemical oceanography in the Fox Biogeochemistry Lab. Originally from Illinois, she moved to the area for school in 2016 and developed a love for local environments like the Indian River Lagoon. As a long-time advocate for environmental conservation, she is pursuing a career studying water quality and has incorporated the Bottle Cap Project into her Masters thesis project.

MRC’s Lunch & Learn Webinar series is a long-standing and cherished social offered to the East Central Florida coast region, and is supported by volunteers and the community’s charitable giving. If interested and able, we ask participants to donate toward our guest speaker series. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information on the Marine Resources Council, please visit SaveTheIRL.org.