Collaborative Research: RII Track-2 FEC: Promoting N2O- and CO2-Relieved Nitrogen Fertilizers for Climate Change-Threatened Midwest Farming and Ranching

一氧化二氮（N2 O）的全球变暖潜能值约为二氧化碳（CO2）的300倍，占2020年美国温室气体（GHG）排放量的7%。74%的N2 O排放来自农业施肥。大气中N2 O的浓度以每十年2%的速度增长，这主要是由于为了满足对粮食、纤维和能源不断增长的需求而强化施肥。尽管与施肥密切相关，但N2 O排放仍然是一个复杂的问题，涉及科学，技术，经济，生态和社会因素。了解并因此遏制N2 O排放迫切需要通过跨学科和跨学科研究进行有效合作。这个NSF EPSCoR Track II FEC项目汇集了来自爱荷华州州立大学（ISU）和威奇托州立大学（WSU）的多学科科学家团队，以探索和研究绿色尿素，该尿素可以实现施肥向N2 O和CO2减排的农业和牧场的范式转变。该研究项目有可能为促进学术界、政府、工业、农业和社区在温室气体N2 O减排和绿色肥料推广方面的合作和协会奠定基础，从而加强持续的研发能力和竞争力。在生产绿色肥料的同时，对废氮和二氧化碳的捕获也将有助于保护中西部地区的生态和环境系统免受现有非可持续做法的压力，确保更长期的经济繁荣和繁荣。绿色肥料技术的分布特点具有为当地农牧区，特别是农村地区低收入少数民族创造高工资就业机会的巨大潜力，从而扩大受气候变化影响不成比例的农业社区的能力和机会。该合作项目的总体目标是促进减少N2 O和CO2的氮肥（绿色尿素为重点）与经济弹性和环境意识作为一种创新的方式，以减轻气候变化威胁的中西部农业和牧场社区所带来的挑战。两个EPSCoR管辖区，爱荷华州的ISU和堪萨斯的WSU，将并肩工作，共同努力，进入以下研究主题：i）先进的分离废物氮捕获和产品纯化; ii）创新的电解合成绿色尿素; iii）氮传感，建模和肥料利用的协同研究;以及iv）对社区接受度的社会检验和对绿色肥料的政策改变。这个EPSCoR项目的成功将使一个由可再生能源（风能和太阳能）驱动的电气制造系统能够生产绿色氮肥，这与目前消耗不可再生化石能源（煤炭，石油和天然气）的热制造过程有着根本的不同，后者减少了农业对气候变化的影响，同时确保了中西部农业和牧场的可持续性。研究成果将导致对温室气体N2 O排放、硝酸盐上循环、尿素合成、CO2捕获和转化以及农业氮肥利用的深入了解。它还将为N2 O和硝酸盐传感，阴离子选择性膜和高效化学品制造的新一代技术开辟新的途径。同时，项目的执行提高了研究竞争力，发展了堪萨斯和爱荷华州的研究能力和基础设施（包括物质和人力资源），并提高了参与者在各自领域的声誉和能力。基于堪萨斯和爱荷华州之间在农业繁荣方面的共同问题和共同利益的巨大协同作用，两所EPSCoR大学将提供一个独特的教育平台，旨在提高中西部公众对氮循环管理的认识，并为可持续农业培训下一代劳动力。特别是，EPSCoR团队正在与少数民族服务机构道奇市社区学院（DC 3）合作，在“农业科学”和“农场和牧场管理”等密切相关的领域指导少数民族学生和培训少数民族教师该奖项反映了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进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

With approximately 300 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) contributes to 7% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020. 74% of N2O emission comes from agricultural fertilizer applications. The atmospheric concentration of N2O has been increasing at a rate of 2% per decade, driven largely by intensified fertilization in meeting the ever-growing demand for food, fiber, and energy. Despite the strong link to fertilization, N2O emission remains to be a complex problem arising from scientific, technological, economical, ecological, and societal factors. Understanding and therefore curbing N2O emissions urgently calls for effective collaborations through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. This NSF EPSCoR Track II FEC project brings together a multidisciplinary team of scientists from Iowa State University (ISU) and Wichita State University (WSU) to explore and examine green urea that could enable the paradigm shift of fertilization towards N2O- and CO2-relieved farming and ranching. This research project has the potential to set the foundation of fostering collaborations and associations in both GHG N2O reduction and green fertilizer promotion across academia, government, industries, agriculture, and communities, therefore strengthening the sustained R&D capacity and competitiveness. While producing green fertilizers, the capture of waste nitrogen and CO2 will also help protect ecological and environmental systems in Midwest areas from being stressed by existing non-sustainable practices, ensuring longer-term economic thriving and prosperity. The distributed feature of green fertilizer technology holds a great potential to create higher-wage jobs for local farming/ranching regions, especially for low-income minorities in rural areas, thus expanding capabilities and opportunities for agricultural communities that are disproportionately affected by climate change.The overarching objective of this collaborative project is to promote N2O- and CO2-relieved nitrogen fertilizers (green urea as the focus) with economic resilience and environmental consciousness as an innovative way to mitigate the challenges posed upon climate change-threatened Midwest farming and ranching communities. Two EPSCoR jurisdictions, ISU in Iowa and WSU in Kansas, will work side-by-side to channel concerted efforts into the following research themes: i) the advanced separation for waste nitrogen capture and product purification; ii) the innovative electrolysis for synthesizing green urea; iii) the synergistic investigation of nitrogen sensing, modeling, and fertilizer utilization; and iv) the societal examination for community acceptance and policy changes towards green fertilizers. The success of this EPSCoR project will enable an electro-manufacturing system powered by renewable energy (wind and sunlight) to produce green nitrogen fertilizers that are fundamentally different from current thermo-manufacturing processes that consume non-renewable fossil energy (coal, petroleum, and natural gas), which alleviates agriculture’s impact on climate change, while ensuring the sustainability of Midwest farming and ranching. The research outcome will lead to deep understanding of GHG N2O emission, nitrate upcycling, urea synthesis, CO2 capture and conversion, and nitrogen fertilizer utilization in agriculture. It will also open a new avenue for new generations of technologies for N2O and nitrate sensing, anion-selective membrane, and efficient chemical manufacturing. Simultaneously, the project execution enhances research competitiveness and develops research capacity and infrastructure in Kansas and Iowa (both physical and human resources) and grows the participants’ reputation and competence in their fields. Based on great synergy between Kansas and Iowa in shared common problems and united interest in agricultural prosperity, two EPSCoR universities will offer a unique educational platform that aims at raising general public awareness in the Midwest on nitrogen-cycle management, as well as training the next-generation of workforce for sustainable agriculture. In particular, the EPSCoR team is partnering with the minority-serving institution, Dodge City Community College (DC3), in mentoring minority students and in training minority-teaching instructors in the closely aligned areas including “agricultural science” and “farm and ranch management”.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.