Inland aquaculture of marine life using water from a saline aquifer
First Claim
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1. A method of culturing marine species comprising the steps of:
- providing saline water from an inland saline aquifer, the saline water from said aquifer being substantially free of toxic heavy metals and other pollutants;
providing a reservoir to contain the saline water, wherein the saline water in the reservoir has been aerated and allowed to settle to reduce the level iron, copper, manganese zinc and silver in the saline water, thereby producing clarified saline water; and
culturing at least one marine species in a grow out containment area comprising the clarified saline water.
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Abstract
A method and system for the inland aquaculture of marine species using water from a saline aquifer having a heavy metals content within the acceptable limits of the EPA guidelines for drinking water. The aquifer is preferably the Coconino aquifer located in Arizona and New Mexico. The system can be used to culture microalgae, macroalgae, fish, shrimp and many other marine species. Nutrients and fertilizers can be added to the water to optimize culture conditions for particular species. Useful products can be isolated from the marine species or the cultured marine species can be harvested as useful products themselves.
56 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method of culturing marine species comprising the steps of:
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providing saline water from an inland saline aquifer, the saline water from said aquifer being substantially free of toxic heavy metals and other pollutants; providing a reservoir to contain the saline water, wherein the saline water in the reservoir has been aerated and allowed to settle to reduce the level iron, copper, manganese zinc and silver in the saline water, thereby producing clarified saline water; and culturing at least one marine species in a grow out containment area comprising the clarified saline water. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for the aquaculture of marine species, the system comprising:
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an inland saline water aquifer that provides saline water, after aeration below, having no more than the EPA acceptable levels of toxic heavy metals for drinking water; at least one aeration tower that promotes the precipitation of undesired metals or metal ions in the saline water thereby forming clarified saline water; at least one reservoir containing water obtained directly or indirectly from the aquifer; at least one containment area selected from the group consisting of a pond, tank, raceway, bioreactor, photobioreactor, turbidostat, bag system and tower system, the containment area containing the clarified saline water obtained from the reservoir; a culture of at least one marine species in the saline water in the at least one containment area; and at least one first processing system for harvesting at least a portion of the culture of the at least one marine species from the saline water thereby forming a harvested marine species mass. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification