What We Achieved
As in previous years, the Aachen iGEM team was again very successful!
Nominated For Best Hardware
Gold Medal
Nominated For Track Award Environment
Phosphorus
It is essential for life and a non-renewable resource. For our modern agriculture, we need a guaranteed and steady phosphate supply.
The Current Situation
Currently, we obtain phosphate by mining natural deposits, but global reserves are limited and dwindling. Wastewater and trash will be the main source of phosphate in the future.
The Problem
So far, no effective recycling method has been invented. If we do not find a way to recover phosphate, we will face tremendous challenges to sustain agriculture at its current rate and feed the growing world population.
The Role Of Phosphate For Crop Production
Without enough phosphate as fertilizer, we will face severe food shortage for the prognosticated 10 billion people in the world. We have to intervene now!
Our Solution
MEtaPhos aims to revolutionize the phosphate cycle. Our goal is to recycle phosphate from wastewater and to generate polyphosphate for the industry.
The Advantages of MEtaPhos
Our approach allows purification of pure phosphate from wastewater through light switchable phosphate binding proteins. With light as an easy-to-handle factor in our process, we can implement low-cost and simple procedures to apply our method.
