NSF2026: EAGER: Nitrogen Bearing Hydrochars For Nitrogen Upcycling in a World without Waste

2032590（Timko）。在CBET/ENG环境可持续性计划和综合活动办公室的NSF 2026基金计划的支持下，Worchester Polytechnic Institute的Michael Timko和Aaron Deskins教授以及Brandeis University的Klais Schmift-Rohr教授正在参与一项研究项目，该项目旨在阐明N-hydrochars的结构，并为特定应用的N-hydrochars设计提供合理的基础。N-烃是通过废物（例如食物废物、牲畜粪便和污水污泥）的水热处理形成的含氮富碳材料。正构氢焦具有潜在的用途，包括作为土壤改良剂、吸附剂和催化剂。项目的成功将有助于朝着NSF 2026 Idea Machine赢得“无废物世界”的目标前进。“目前使用N-氢焦的一个挑战是其复杂和未知的结构。由明确定义的前体合成的同位素标记的N-水烃的NMR将用于鉴定和定量N-水烃结构亚单元。项目团队预计，这些亚基将是呋喃，芳烃，可能是含氮杂环，烷基连接基用胺和羧酸酯侧链装饰。量子化学计算将用于模拟这些子单元的振动，从而能够开发可用于N-水热炭表征的拉曼方法。更复杂的碳氢化合物将从食物垃圾中合成。重金属吸附等温线将在模型和复杂的水炭上测量。将使用先前鉴定的N-水热炭亚单元进行量子化学计算，并且这些结果将首先用于使测量的趋势合理化，然后进行改进以提供预测能力，从而将结果推广到不同类型的N-水热炭。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持和更广泛的影响审查标准。

2032590 (Timko). With support from the CBET/ENG Environmental Sustainability program and the NSF 2026 Fund Program in the Office of Integrated Activities, Professors Michael Timko and Aaron Deskins at Worchester Polytechnic Institute, and Professor Klais Schmift-Rohr at Brandeis University are engaging in a research project that is targeted to elucidate the structure of N-hydrochars and provide a rational basis for design of N-hydrochars for specific applications. N-hydrochars are nitrogen-bearing carbon-rich materials formed by hydrothermal treatment of wastes, such as food waste, livestock manure, and sewage sludge. N-hydrochars are potentially useful for many applications, including as soil amendments, adsorbents, and catalysts. Project success will help to advance toward the goal of the NSF2026 Idea Machine winning entry of a "World without Waste."A current challenge to the use of N-hydrochars is their complex and unknown structure. NMR of isotopically labeled N-hydrochars synthesized from well- defined precursors will be used to identify and quantify N-hydrochar structural sub-units. The project team anticipates that these sub-units will be furans, arenes, and possibly N-bearing heterocycles, with alkyl linkers decorated with amine and carboxylate side chains. Quantum chemical calculations will be used to simulate the vibrations of these sub-units, enabling development of a Raman method that can be used for N-hydrochar characterization. More complex hydrochars will then be synthesized from food waste. Heavy metal sorption isotherms will be measured on model and complex hydrochars. Quantum chemical calculations will be performed using the previously identified N- hydrochar sub-units and these results will be used first to rationalize measured trends and then refined to provide predictive capabilities to generalize results to different types of N-hydrochars and for sorption of different metal cations.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.