Instituto Anglo Britnico

Una Visin Universal

Be Smart, Be Green.
Sal Sebastin
Sergio Tovar
Itza Marian
Andrea Estrada
Leonel Cant

9B

Apodaca, N.L., Mxico

April 2016

Table of Contents
Design Cycle......................................................................... 2
Justify the Need....................................................................3
Identify and Prioritize Research.............................................4
Data..................................................................................... 6
Analyzing Existing Products..................................................7
Present Chosen Design.........................................................8
Comparison Table.................................................................9
Develop Diagram................................................................11
Chemical Fertilizers Procedure.............................................12
Materials............................................................................13
Process..............................................................................14
Plan Table........................................................................... 15
Demonstrate Technical Skills...............................................17
Explain changes..................................................................18
Design Testing Method........................................................20
Evaluate the Success of the solution....................................21
Evaluate How the Solution could be improved......................22
Bibliography.......................................................................23
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Design Cycle

Justify the Need

We are Sal Sebastin, Sergio Tovar, Andrea Estrada, Itza Marian and Leonel
Cant; we study in the Instituto Anglo Britnico, an IB school. Between other activities,
the IB establishes that the students must create a product, which will be presented in a
technology, science or innovation fair. This year is not the exemption. Within the process
of creation, we must use the Design Cycle as a tool for giving a theoretical background to
our final products. The Design Cycle states that we must make a profound investigation
regarding the functionality, impact and praxis of the product.
The problem I selected is the mass production use and consumption of nitrogen
fertilizer. Nitrogen fertilizer was created almost by accident by Franz Haber, a German
Nazi who intended to make bombs with nitrogen by separating N2 and finally did,
creating the first fertilizer that can be made in mass production, giving rise to the next
agricultural revolution and winning a controversial Nobel Prize in the process. N2 has
one of the strongest bonds in the world and only very few very powerful bacteria can
break it to give plants the nitrogen they need to survive and develop, but in high
temperatures and pressures, this bond can be broken, creating a substance which can be
used in bombs and in crops.
Plants have three basic needs apart from water soil and sunshine, those needs are
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, each are needed in low quantities, which are
normally achieved when bacteria in the soil give the plant just enough of these nutrients.
When the population grows, the needs for food grow too, and the nitrogen given to a
plant has to rise to improve the velocity and effectiveness of the development of crops.
As a result, with the growth of the population, lots of nitrogen fertilizer are created now
and given to the plants to increase the production.
The fertilizer makes no damage per se, but because lots of it are being poured into
crops, the leftovers of the fertilizer get into the ocean, polluting the water and killing
everything in the area, because of the over production, the soil is given no time to recover
the nutrients produced and it gets wasted. Whats more, to produce the nitrogen fertilizer
lots of fossil fuels are needed, which pollutes the air and kills birds in the process.
Nitrogen has no direct effects in human health but it has a direct effect in the worlds
ecosystems health.
In the world there is lots of hunger; only about one third of the population have
the access to a relative high quality food and although there is in theory enough food to
supply the entire world, lots of food waste are created by that third of the population and
farm animals which are then consumed for meat eat the crops that would feed the rest of
the population. These factors make that the production of food has to be well developed
and that the use of a cheap effective and fast fertilizer is essential for the sustaining of
human civilization nowadays

Identify and Prioritize Research

In this precise moment, lots of crops are being harvest to literally feed the demand
of food around the world. But, is the production enough for the demand? The short
answer is no, but the best answer is always the true one, which is never that simple. The
complicated network of circumstances and reasons have make that the usage of an
otherwise harmful substance has to be used in the food that humans consume. Before the
agricultural revolution, starvation was a not common but possible way of dying in the life
of people in Europe. After the advancement of the technique developed in the World War
Two, obesity became a more frequent cause of death than starvation.
First, the crops, which are being grown are possibly GMOs, genetically modified
organisms which resist plagues, fungi and other threats, the fertilizers being used are
based in pure ammonia, NH3 which help the plant get enough nutrients from the soil,
complete photosynthesis and grow the crops human need to survive. The use of GMOs is
not intrinsically harmful to the health of human or the environment, but the problem in
their usage is that very few very powerful companies practically govern the creation
investigation and spread of GMOs making it not suitable for low-income countries.
This fertilizer is very effective to give abundant ammonia to plants since it is
poured directly in the soil and absorbed by it. Till now, it has worked well enough for
humans to continue using it with almost no change in the final product and in the process
to make it. The process is simple; N2 is poured in a container then, under extreme
pressure and temperatures, Hydrogen is added to the solution and then, the double bond
between Nitrogen is broken, and then it reacts with the Hydrogen to produce ammonia.
This final substance is simply added to the soil and voil, fertilizer for plants.
Fritz Haber was given a Nobel Prize for creating a fertilizer by accident and
saving the lives of lots of humankind from hunger and fame. Since that day, plants
were given the fertilizer and the production of crops raised in what is known as the
agricultural revolution, which let the population of human to grow exponentially. Today,
it continues to be used and teams with GMOs and irrigation technology to feed as much
population as possible. Fertilizer do saves the life of people by making food cheaper and
more abundant for everyone.
Nowadays, the richest people, in the production, or consumption process, waste
one third of the food produced in the world. The usage of an organic fertilizer and the
change of the Nitrogen fertilizer would actually make that the people are more concerned
with the value of food, reducing wastes and improving the lifestyles of the entire world
through propaganda and a green fertilizer.

Data

Survey
People who want to solve
this probem
People who don't mind
about the environment

Do you Think this problem affects our community?

Yes
No

Do you do something to help the environme

Analyzing Existing Products

A Daniels Cell could

be used in grand
scale using an
underground hole in
Africa to solve the
problems of lack of
energetic resources.
Using urine as an
ionic solution will
help with sanity.

A water filter with

carbon and green
leaves at the end will
help health and
ecosystems in both
urban and rural
areas.

An insecticide
made with Neem
leaves to help
avoid and kill
useless and
harmful pests
both from

Present Chosen Design

We gave several ideas to solve different problems around the world in the
complex entangled network of circumstances that is life. At the end, we decided
unanimously to use the fertilizer as a project to work in the innovation fair this year.
There might be some problems making this project, but the other ideas also had issues of
their own. The selection of the organic fertilizer is the most suitable for us this year for
the solution of this problem of a very high magnitude.
Andreas idea
Her idea was to create a backpack that had 3 wheels so that it could be easy to
transport them through staircase. This idea is easy to make but I thing that it is not good
enough to keep investing information and time on it.
Itzas idea:
Her idea was a lamp that had aromatherapy but I didnt realize that I do if we used
this idea we were going to just paste an aromatherapy device to the lamp and it would be
very cheap and we wouldnt have to work to complete it.
Sauls Idea
His idea was to create an outdoors table that has a solar panel. This was a really
good idea because it helped to reduce the use of electricity. We liked this idea but we
thought that it would be really expensive and we could not do it by ourselves and we
would have to get help from a professional.
Sergios Idea
Sergios Idea was to create fertilizer using organic wastes like fruits peels. I liked
this idea because it will help our environment by making the plants to grow faster and
better, but the best thing is that its an organic product, it wont contaminate and it will be
easier for the people that work on rural areas.
We decided to choose the fertilizer because it is the most suitable and helpful
product that we could make for this innovation fair with the will to help our community
and the world.

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Comparison Table
Product

MediPlant

Composition

Neem essence,
water, decomposed
vegetable
substances, manure
and rose essence.
Mass production
Mass production
Water, Nitrogen,
Just Nitrogen
phosphorus and
fructose.
95%
100%

Content
Variety of nutrients
Concentration of
nutrients
Effectiveness of
absorption
Usage

Ammonia
Fertilizer
NH3

Existent Organic
Fertilizers
Manure or wastes.

Mass production
Nitrogen, phosphorus
and water.
84%

93%

60%

98%

Inexistent

Spread through
the world

Low

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Develop Diagram

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Chemical Fertilizers Procedure

Natural gas and steam are pumped into a large vessel. Next, air is pumped into the
system, and oxygen is removed by the burning of natural gas and steam leaving primarily
nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is removed and introducing
an electric current into the system produces ammonia.
Nitric acid will be produced when mixing ammonia and air in a tank. The nitric
acid is further reacted in the presence of water to produce nitric acid.
Nitric acid and ammonia are used to make ammonium nitrate. The two materials
are mixed together in a tank and a neutralization reaction occurs, producing ammonium
nitrate. This material then is stored until it is ready to be granulated and blended with the
other fertilizer components.

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Materials
Item

Amount

Cost

Neem Plant extract (plant)

Water
Organic Wastes
Diluted soil
Colorant (optional)
Rose perfume (optional)
Sticky tag

Two branches of 30 cm
Two liters
200 grams
200 grams
50 milliliters
30 milliliters
1 piece

Free (owned)
Free
Free
Free
$20 Pesos
$20 Pesos
$10 Pesos

Bottle
Seeds
Fertile Soil
Flower pot

1 piece
9 bags
3 kilograms
9 pots

Free
$20 pesos each

Neem is a fast-growing tree that can reach a height of 1520 meters (4966 ft.),
and rarely 3540 meters (115131 ft.). It is evergreen, but in severe drought it may shed
most or nearly all of its leaves. The branches are wide and spreading. The fairly dense
crown is roundish and may reach a diameter of 1520 meters (4966 ft.) in old,
freestanding specimens. The neem tree is very similar in appearance to its relative,
the Chinaberry.
The opposite, pinnate leaves are 2040 centimeters (7.915.7 in) long, with 20 to
31 medium to dark green leaflets about 38 centimeters (1.23.1 in) long. The terminal
leaflet is often missing. The petioles are short. The (white and fragrant) flowers are
arranged in more-or-less drooping axillary panicles, which are up to 25 centimeters
(9.8 in) long. The inflorescences, which branch up to the third degree, bear from 150 to
250 flowers. An individual flower is 56 millimeters (0.200.24 in) long and 811
millimeters (0.310.43 in) wide. Portentous, bisexual flowers and male flowers exist on
the same individual tree.
The fruit is a smooth (glabrous) olive-like drupe which varies in shape from
elongate oval to nearly roundish, and when ripe is 1.42.8 centimeters (0.551.10 in) by
1.01.5 centimeters (0.390.59 in). The fruit skin (excerpt) is thin and the bittersweet
pulp (monocarp) is yellowish-white and very fibrous. The monocarp is 0.30.5
centimeters (0.120.20 in) thick. The white, hard inner shell (endocarp) of the fruit
encloses one, rarely two or three, elongated seeds (kernels) having a brown seed coat.

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The neem tree is noted for its drought resistance. Normally it thrives in areas with subarid to sub-humid conditions, with an annual rainfall of 4001,200 millimeters (16
47 in). It can grow in regions with an annual rainfall below 400 mm, but in such cases it
depends largely on ground water levels. Neem can grow in many different types of soil,
but it thrives best on well-drained deep and sandy soils.

Process
The creation of the organic fertilizer is both simple and easy but requires that the
materials are well separated, organized and distributed. For the creation our organic
fertilizer we will follow the next steps to assure the effectiveness and velocity of the
effect produced is able to compete with the industrial fertilizer created through the Haber
process.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Distribute the organic wastes in a space.

Boil the Neem plant in the water and add the mixture into a blender.
Add the organic waste into the blender.
Blend the items and put them into the bottle.
Dry the bottle and paste the tag.

We expect this process to work finely so that the objective is achieved. And the
solution works. The objective with this process is to create a fertilizer that works better
than an industrial one in effectiveness rapidness and biodegradability. Since the process
to create MediPlant is relatively cheap and simple, plus the materials are absolutely
simple in comparison to the costly and polluting fertilizer made with the Haber process.

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Plan Table
Number

Activity

Student

Start Date

Due Date

Accomplished?

Create pallet for team

Sergio

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Plan Table

Andrea

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Slogan

Andrea

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Logo

Itza

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Budgets

Leonel

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Improve Justify Need

All

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Improve Justify Research

All

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Share improvements

All

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

Comparison table (5)

All

Apr. 14

Apr. 19

Yes

10

Procedures (2)

All

Apr. 19

Apr. 26

Yes

11

Material List

All

Apr. 19

Apr. 26

Yes

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Demonstrate Technical Skills

Figure 1
Figure 2

Neem leaves.

Empty bottle of
Mediplant.

Figure 4
Water

Figure 3
Organic wastes

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Figure 6

Figure 5

Step 1: grind the leaves.

Step 2: Make an infusion of

neem.

Figure 7

Figure 8

Step 6: let the infusion cold.

Step 7: grind the organic waste

Figure 9
Mediplant

Figure 10
Step 8: mix the ingredients.

Explain changes
While doing the product, we noticed that the Neem wasnt getting very diluted in the
water, making us to decide to make an infusion of neem so that the essence and the
properties of the plant would get into the product itself. Apart from that subtle change, the
product stayed the same as well as the process. An infusion would make that the essence
of the neem plant gets absorbed and diluted in the water, just as a neem tea.

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Design Testing Method

We knew that to prove that a product works we have to make an experiment, and so we
did. With the use of three plants of the same species, we added the exact amount of water,
soil and sunshine to each individual and measured the progress and quality of the growth
of each individual.

Figure 11
Adding an exact measure of water of 500
milliliters to the plants.

Figure 12
To the right, seeds with Mediplant, in the
middle row, plants with a commercial
fertilizer and to the left, common seeds.

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Evaluate the Success of the solution

According to the survey we made, the product will be a success if presented in a
commercial mean.

Would you buy Mediplant for your garden?

Yes

No

Ambiguous

If this product were to be sold for 20 pesos, you would think that the price is:

Fair

Cheap

Expensive

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Does the product is attractive for you?

Yes

No

More or Less

Evaluate How the Solution could be improved

In the same survey we asked the respondents what they would change to the product and
most of them responded for the color and smell of the product which in the end, attracts
the buyers to actually buy a product. We finally decided that changing the color and
adding a fragrance to the product would finally end with the problem of attractiveness.
Finally, our products income would serve as a fund for the UNs food program and the
rest would just grow and maintain the production.

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Bibliography
Advameg Inc. (27 de March de 2016). madehow. Obtenido de Fertilizer:
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Fertilizer.html
Aronson, B. (8 de February de 2014). foodtank. Obtenido de Cyanobacterial Biofertilizer: Natures Own Solution for Improved Soil Fertility:
http://foodtank.com/news/2014/02/cyanobacterial-bio-fertilizer-natures-ownsolution-for-improved-soil-fertil
Clark, J. (14 de April de 2002). CHEMGUIDE. Obtenido de The Haber Process:
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/equilibria/haber.html
FEECO International. (11 de April de 2016). FEECO International. Obtenido de Organic
Fertilizer Systems: http://feeco.com/organic-systems/
New York State. (28 de July de 2004). New York State. Obtenido de Department of
Health:
https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/emergency/chemical_terrorism/ammoni
a_tech.htm
SciShow. (12 de August de 2012). SciShow. Obtenido de Fritz Haber: Great Minds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdEE5uvFhOM
World Food Programme. (14 de January de 2016). World Food Programme. Obtenido de
Hunger Statistics: https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats