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

2032590(提姆科)。在综合活动办公室CBET/ENG环境可持续发展项目和NSF 2026基金项目的支持下，伍彻斯特理工学院的Michael Timko和Aaron Deskins教授以及Brandeis大学的Klais Schmift-Rohr教授正在从事一项旨在阐明N-氢化合物的结构并为特定用途的N-氢化合物的设计提供合理基础的研究项目。N-氢化碳是一种含氮富碳物质，通过对食物垃圾、牲畜粪便和污水污泥等废物进行水热处理形成。N-氢化碳具有潜在的许多用途，包括用作土壤改良剂、吸附剂和催化剂。项目的成功将有助于推动NSF2026理想机进入“无废物世界”的目标。目前，N-氢化合物的使用面临的一个挑战是其复杂和未知的结构。从定义明确的前体合成的同位素标记的N-氢焦的核磁共振将用于鉴定和定量N-氢焦结构亚单位。项目团队预计，这些亚单位将是呋喃、芳烃和可能的含N杂环，带有装饰有胺和羧酸侧链的烷基连接物。量子化学计算将被用来模拟这些亚单位的振动，从而开发出一种可用于表征N-氢焦的拉曼方法。然后，将从食物垃圾中合成更复杂的氢化碳。将测定重金属在模型和复杂加氢焦上的吸附等温线。量子化学计算将使用之前确定的N-氢碳亚单位进行，这些结果将首先用于使测量趋势合理化，然后进行改进以提供预测能力，将结果推广到不同类型的N-氢碳化合物和不同金属阳离子的吸附。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。

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.