I-Corps: Decentralized fertilizer production for improving soil quality and plant growth

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于引入了一种新的工艺，利用当地可用的资源和劳动力在农村地区当地生产肥料。通过减少从集中生产工厂运输笨重的化肥成分的需要，这一过程可以显著降低农村地区获得化肥的成本，同时提高化肥在几乎单一农场粒度水平上的定制化程度。通过生产可定制的肥料配方，除了减少对水和商业肥料成分的需求外，还可以提高作物产量，从而增加最终用户(如农民)的收入，这一创新可以带来经济效益，并改善粮食和水的安全。由于拟议的技术使用生物质，如农场废弃物作为原料，它还有助于在不影响食物链的情况下有效地管理废物和养分回收。这个i-Corps项目基于生物质的贫氧热化学处理和升级，因此与传统的覆盖或堆肥工艺相比，难以消化的木质纤维的分解速度可以快100倍。这个过程是自热的，不需要外部能量来持续维持自己。基于这一化学概念，该项目已经对实验室规模的反应堆原型进行了建模、开发、建造和测试。通过调节空生物质比和反应器中产物的去除速率，实现了对反应条件和产量的正向控制。已计划通过定义反应指数并将其与相关肥料特性--如pH、离子活度--联系起来，扩大设计规模，并开发一个控制系统来处理不同类型的作物残渣。被测试的原料范围包括稻壳、干草和核桃壳，生产不同等级的不同特性的产量肥料成分。然后将产出的肥料成分与当地可获得的营养添加剂混合，形成孔隙率和pH可调的配方，该配方可以为各个农场定制，以优化土壤质量(例如，水和养分保持能力)。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project lies in introducing a new process for producing fertilizer locally in rural areas using locally available resources and labor. By reducing the need to transport bulky fertilizer components from centralized production plants, this process can significantly reduce the cost of fertilizer access in rural areas, while improving the customizability of fertilizer at the level of almost single-farm granularity. By producing customizable fertilizer formulations that can promote improved crop yield and hence higher income for the end users (e.g. farmers) in addition to reduced requirements of water and commercial fertilizer components, this innovation can lead to economic benefits as well as improved food and water security. Since the proposed technology uses biomass such as farm residue as a feedstock, it also contributes to effective waste management and nutrient recycling without affecting the food chain.This I-Corps project is based on oxygen-lean thermochemical treatment and upgrading of biomass, such that the hard-to-digest lignocellulosic fibers can be broken down 100 times faster compared to traditional mulching or composting processes. The process is autothermal, requiring no external energy to sustain itself continuously. Based on this chemical concept, the project has been modeled, developed, built, and tested a laboratory-scale reactor prototype. Positive control over the reaction condition and output by adjusting the air-biomass ratio and the removal rate of the product from the reactor has been demonstrated. Methods to scale-up the design by defining an index of reaction and linking it to the relevant fertilizer characteristics-such as pH, ionic activity-and developing a control system to process diverse types of crop residues has been planned. The range of feedstock tested include rice husk, hay straws, and walnut shells, producing diverse grades of the output fertilizer component with different characteristics. The output fertilizer component is then mixed with locally available nutrient additives resulting in a porosity- and pH-adjustable formulation that can be custom-tailored for individual farms to optimize soil quality (e.g. water and nutrient retention capacity).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.