We took a couple more day trips as a group in the last two weeks of class. I also took some time to explore more of Vienna on my own; below I have posted a little about this.
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July 24th: Waste Incineration, Biomass Power, and Sparkling Wine
Our day trip included a couple of interesting tours of environmentally friendly waste disposal and power generation. We began our second to last group trip with a tour of Vienna's waste incineration facility in the morning. It is of course not particularly glamorous but it is interesting to see what is done with waste. It was nice to know that not everything goes straight to a landfill but instead can at least be used for energy. I forgot the exact power output of the plant, but all of the waste is used to run two turbines that provides electricity for a sizeable portion of the local population.
This is the area where the waste is initially unloaded and piled up. It sits I believe on average for two weeks before being sent off to burn so that it is dehydrated. This makes it quite the explosion hazard, being a dusty chamber filled with highly combustible material. Due to this the operator's job is probably the most dangerous in the plant. He basically operates a giant claw crane to evenly distribute the material, like an arcade game.
Here is a panoramic view of the industrial area from the top of the plant.
The ash product being conveyed away from the incinerator. It will either be used as construction material or be buried underground in Germany where there is room; this is much better than throwing plastic in a landfill anyway!
Interestingly, they made a scale model of the plant.
After the waste incinerator plant we went next door to a biomass power plant, where they use woodchips to generate a generous amount of power.
Our tour guide in front of one of the models of turbines they use. Hot compressed air is used to spin the turbines at this plant. Multiple sizes are used depending on the thermal quality of the air; heat is exchanged and air is recompressed and sent to successively smaller turbines to get the most energy out of the process.
One of the generators.
Another turbine; I want to say this one generates 30 megawatts, but don't quote me on that.
With two industrial tours out of the way we then went on to the cultural component of our day: a tour of the Schlumberger sparkling winery. One doesn't call it champagne because it is not produced in or near Champagne, but apart from that technicality it is the same.
The cellar is technically underground, but we didn't descend any stairs. It is built into the side of a hill; as one walks into the cellar the ground above rises to 8 meters high.
We were shown how to 'rattle', in which the sparkling wine bottles are shaken and turned to redistribute the yeast as it is fermented and carbonated.
And at the end there was a sparkling wine tasting component in which I had two glasses of the sparkling wine. This was a blessing and a curse, as at the time I still had two reports to write. It's too bad these day trips weren't on Fridays...
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August 1st: Biogas and Lake Neusiedler
Our last day trip was more abbreviated than the others. The group from Clemson University and NC State had left the previous weekend so our group was cut down to 11 students. We started later for and spent about two hours touring a facility where methane is produced from waste using anaerobic bacteria. One of the professors, Dr. Harasek, actually had worked on a few projects at the facilities and showed us around. It was another example of a modern method of putting humanity's waste to better use than burying it.
Dr. Harasek giving us an overview of the facility.
The area where the waste fuel is dropped off.
At the time they had been given a batch of a type of soda which had been mislabeled during production. Liquid sugar is especially good fuel for the hungry bacteria!
The shack where the trash is unpackaged.
As soon as I walked past a certain point I hit what felt like a wall of an absolutely putrid smell due to the way in which the wind was blowing. It brought me back to the good times at the waste treatment facility.
Fermenting tanks
Air Compressor
Finally the relaxing part of the day: a short bus ride over to Lake Neusiedler for an afternoon in the sun.
Christian booked us an hour-long boat tour of the lake.
It was interesting to hear that this lake is only 2 meters deep at a maximum; it is very murky and not very far out from the beach there is about a meter of water on top a meter of muck. Regardless, it was refreshing to swim on such a hot day (about 90 degrees Fahrenheit out).
That evening we had our farewell dinner with the professors and some of the graduate students at a restaurant which served all varieties of crepes. A fun celebration for the successful completion of lab; I will miss the faculty.
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August 4th: Schoenbrunn and the Zoo
With all of the other students gone last Sunday I spent the afternoon in Vienna on my own, so I decided to go to Schoenbrunn one more time with nice weather to see the gardens and, why not, the zoo.
As my month metro pass had expired, I decided to walk the 6 km over there in the heat rather than buying a pass. It seemed like a good idea, but probably wasn't worth it...
The courtyard in front of the palace again.
Going behind the palace for the first time, I realized what I had missed out on when I went here on the rainy day of June 4th. Up on the hill: the Gloriette.
I had time to tour the Vienna zoo for about 2.5 hours. It boasts being the oldest zoo in the world.
This panda was too busy eating and didn't want to face the camera, unfortunately...
Central pavilion of the zoo
This little guy knew that it was photo time.
After the zoo had closed I walked back through the palace gardens, this time taking a different route up to the Gloriette.
The side of the Gloriette
Up close in front of the Gloriette
A view of the palace and the surrounding area from the Gloriette.
This treck and one more day in Vienna tomorrow will definitely make my visit feel more complete!
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