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Project Bonsai

In March 2008, GSA completed construction of project "Bonsai".  As the name suggests the project involves a number of small scale 200 litre plants (replicas of the 20,000 litre scale plant), in this project the number was six.

The purpose of this project was to build and operate the bonsai plants under differing conditions in a controlled environment. 

By running each individual plant under different conditions our scientists were able to identify what impact these conditions had on the process.  These ongoing experiments allow the refinement of the process so that optimum efficiencies are obtained and maintained. Figure 1 shows a single Bonsai Plant.

Figure 1 - Single Bonsai

It is envisaged that the efficiencies and knowledge gained from the Bonsai project will export directly into the commercial scale plants.

Effects such as adverse climate conditions, temperature variations, and concentration levels are some of the conditions that are being experienced by individual plants.

The results of these tests are critical to the ongoing success and efficiency of each plant.  Moreover, it allows new proposed plants to be operated under similar conditions (to those that will ultimately be experienced on the commercial plant) on a small scale prior to construction, thus reducing unnecessary risk. Figure 2 shows the Bonsai Schematic.

Figure 2 - Schematic