ECO-CBET: Collaborative Research: Towards a Circular Nitrogen Bioeconomy: Tandem Bio- and Chemocatalysis for Sustainable Nitrogen Recovery and Nitrous Oxide Mitigation

城市和农场将富含氮的化合物排放到接收水域，导致环境污染。目前从水中去除富氮化合物的技术成本高昂且能源密集，给社会带来了巨大的经济和环境成本。解决这个废物问题的困难就是为什么美国国家科学、工程和医学院把管理氮循环称为工程学的“重大挑战”之一。该项目的目标是开发有关如何浓缩、分离和将废富氮化合物转化为动物饲料和有益产品的新科学知识。这一成果将通过跨学科的生物学和化学研究来实现，从废物流中去除富氮化合物，并将其转化为可用于生产有用产品的化学品。将对基于这些新技术的新业务的环境影响和潜力进行评估。这项工作的成功完成将防止氮污染，减少温室气体排放，并为化学品提供新的可持续原料。该项目的其他好处还包括劳动力发展和向代表性不足的小学生提供教育服务。这些努力将促进STEM领域的多样性，提高公众的科学素养。城市和农业环境大量产生富氮废物流，对人类和生态健康造成严重的环境负担。传统的氮管理将富氮化合物视为废物，而不是可回收的资源。这种方法成本高，能源密集，并导致释放大量强效温室气体一氧化二氮（N2O）。这个研究项目的目标是开发新的技术方法，将富含氮的废物转化为肥料以外的高价值产品。该研究项目的目标是：(1)工程细菌生物浓缩稀释的废氮，然后可以用作动物饲料或生物基化工生产；(2)开发一种同时去除氮和回收氧化亚氮的微生物工艺，作为绿色氧化剂使用；(3)设计催化工艺，捕获和激活稀氧化亚氮流，用于甲烷的选择性氧化；(4)确定最佳产品、原料和技术组合，以满足不同利益相关者的需求以及成本和可持续性目标。该方法的新颖之处在于高效回收氮，作为生物基化学品和动物饲料的基本原料。这种方法整合了化学、生物和环境工程学科的专业知识。这项研究的成功完成将通过可持续的废物氮管理和减少一氧化二氮的排放使社会受益。教育和工业推广将带来额外的好处。这些努力包括在一个气候行动项目中向代表性不足的小学生伸出援手。与工业合作伙伴的综合学习经验和研究小组之间的研究生交流将加强未来劳动力的发展，以应对可持续发展的重大挑战。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cities and farms discharge nitrogen-rich compounds into receiving waters, resulting in pollution of the environment. Current technologies to remove nitrogen-rich compounds from water are costly and energy intensive, resulting in great economic and environmental costs to society. The difficulty in addressing this waste problem is why the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls managing the nitrogen cycle one of the “Grand Challenges” of engineering. The goal of this project is to develop new scientific knowledge about how to concentrate, separate, and transform waste nitrogen-rich compounds into animal feed and beneficial products. This outcome will be achieved through cross-disciplinary biology and chemistry research to remove nitrogen-rich compounds from waste streams and to transform them into chemicals that can be used for the production of useful products. The environmental impact and potential for new businesses based on these new technologies will be evaluated. Successful completion of this work will prevent nitrogen pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a new sustainable feedstock for chemicals. Other benefits from this project will include workforce development and educational outreach to underrepresented grade-school students. These efforts will promote increased diversity in STEM fields and improve scientific literacy of the general public.Nitrogen-rich waste streams are produced in large quantities from urban and agricultural settings and impose severe environmental burdens to human and ecological health. Conventional nitrogen management treats nitrogen-rich compounds as waste rather than as a recoverable resource. This approach is costly, energy intensive, and results in the release of large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N2O). The goal of this research project is to develop novel technological approaches to convert nitrogen-rich waste into high-value products beyond fertilizers. This research project has the objectives to: (1) Engineer bacteria to bioconcentrate dilute waste nitrogen, which then can be used as animal feed or for bio-based chemical production; (2) Develop a microbial bioprocess for simultaneous nitrogen removal and nitrous oxide recovery for use as a green oxidant; (3) Design catalytic processes to capture and activate dilute nitrous oxide streams for the selective oxidation of methane; and (4) Identify optimal products, feedstocks, and technology combinations to satisfy diverse stakeholder needs and cost and sustainability objectives. The novelty of the approach lies in the energy-efficient recovery of nitrogen as a building block for bio-based chemicals and animal feed. This approach integrates expertise across chemical, biological, and environmental engineering disciplines. Successful completion of this research will benefit society through sustainable waste nitrogen management and the mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions. Additional benefits will result from educational and industrial outreach. Such efforts include outreach to underrepresented grade-school students in a climate action project. Integrative learning experiences with industrial partners and graduate student exchanges between research groups will enhance the development of a future workforce to address grand challenges in sustainability.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.