FMSG: Electrochemical Upcycling of Waste Nitrates for Eco-Manufacturing of Nitrogen-Based Chemicals

氮基化合物是不可或缺的化学品，对许多工业应用至关重要。然而，今天它们直接或间接地由氨制造。氨是通过哈伯-博世工艺生产的，需要大量使用化石燃料、高温和高压。这导致大量二氧化碳排放。与此同时，大量的硝酸盐作为一种臭名昭著的危险污染物在许多工业过程的废水和农业径流中产生。通常需要昂贵的硝酸盐污染缓解措施来维持健康的生态系统。在爱荷华州州立大学的李文珍教授和马克·姆巴-赖特教授以及威奇托州立大学的谷爽教授的带领下，该团队正在进行“电化学硝酸盐升级循环”的开创性研究。这一过程将有害的硝酸盐废物转化为有用的氮基化学品，而不会持续消耗日益减少的化石能源。通过利用廉价和过度发电的风力发电，特别是在中西部农业地区，拟议的创新生态制造系统可以奠定基础，分布式，成本效益高，生态友好的未来制造的多功能氮基化学品。该项目融合了化学工业、发电厂和环境部门的利益，通过帮助应对三大全球挑战来加强美国在先进制造业的领导地位：可持续性、气候变化和清洁水。本项目由化学系、化学、生物工程、环境与运输系统系及促进竞争研究计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。（爱荷华州），姆巴-赖特（爱荷华州），以及顾（威奇托州），重点研究从废硝酸盐到有价值的羟胺（NH 2 OH）及其有用衍生物的理想转变，通过整合他们在硝酸盐浓缩&聚合物科学、选择性硝酸盐还原&硝酸盐电化学、技术经济分析&数据驱动的决策以及设备工程&系统集成方面的专业知识，我们可以为您提供最佳解决方案。该项目旨在1）获得硝酸盐还原催化剂和硝酸盐交换聚合物的基础材料科学; 2）推进对功能过程的科学理解，包括选择性硝酸盐还原，硝酸盐浓缩和羟胺分离; 3）研究基于氮基化学品的“电化学硝酸盐升级循环”的有前途的未来制造系统。所取得的研究成果将被纳入现有的选修课程。将为当地社区学院学生开发一个生态制造教学单元。该团队正在积极与爱荷华州的生物经济研究所和电力研究中心合作，其长期目标是在先进制造领域培养新一代劳动力。该项目由化学部、化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统部以及刺激竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Nitrogen-based compounds are indispensable chemicals critically valuable to many industrial applications. However, today they are manufactured directly or indirectly from ammonia. Ammonia is manufactured via the Haber-Bosch process and demands heavy use of fossil fuels, high temperature, and pressure. This results in large carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, huge amounts of nitrate are generated as a notorious and hazardous pollutant in wastewaters from many industrial processes and as agricultural run-off. Costly mitigation of nitrate pollution is often required to maintain healthy ecological systems. Led by Professors Wenzhen Li and Mark Mba-Wright at Iowa State University, and Professor Shuang Gu at Wichita State University, the team is conducting pioneering research on “electrochemical nitrate upcycling”. This process is turning harmful nitrate wastes into useful nitrogen-based chemicals, without continuously depleting the dwindling fossil energy sources. By leveraging inexpensive and over-generated wind electricity, especially in Midwest agricultural areas, the proposed innovative eco-manufacturing system could lay the foundation for distributed, cost-effective, and ecofriendly future manufacturing of versatile nitrogen-based chemicals. Fusing the interests from chemical industry, power plants, and environmental sectors, the project is strengthening American leadership in advanced manufacturing by helping address three grand global challenges: sustainability, climate change, and clean water. This project is jointly funded by the Division of Chemistry, the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).The project team led by Professors Li (Iowa State), Mba-Wright (Iowa State), and Gu (Wichita State), focuses its research on the desirable transition from waste nitrate to valuable hydroxylamine (NH2OH) and its useful derivatives, by integrating their expertise across nitrate concentrating & polymer science, selective nitrate reduction & nitrate electrochemistry, techno-economic analysis & data-driven decision making, and device engineering & system integration. This project aims to 1) acquire the fundamental material sciences of both nitrate-reduction catalysts and nitrate-exchange polymers; 2) advance the scientific understanding of functional processes including selective nitrate reduction, nitrate concentrating, and hydroxylamine separation; and 3) examine the promising future manufacturing system based on the “electrochemical nitrate upcycling” for nitrogen-based chemicals. The achieved research outcomes are to be incorporated into existing elective courses. A teaching module on eco-manufacturing is to be developed for local community college students. The team is actively working with the Bioeconomy Institute and Electric Power Research Center at Iowa State, with a long-term goal of producing a new generation workforce in the fields of advanced manufacturing. This project is jointly funded by the Division of Chemistry, the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.