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

氧化亚氮（N2O）的全球变暖潜能值大约是二氧化碳（CO2）的300倍，它在2020年占美国温室气体（GHG）排放量的7%。74%的一氧化二氮排放来自农业施肥。大气中N2O的浓度以每十年2%的速度增长，这主要是由于为了满足不断增长的对食物、纤维和能源的需求而加强施肥。尽管氮氧化物排放与施肥有着密切的联系，但氮氧化物排放仍然是一个复杂的问题，涉及科学、技术、经济、生态和社会等因素。了解并因此遏制一氧化二氮排放迫切需要通过跨学科和跨学科研究进行有效的合作。这个NSF EPSCoR Track II FEC项目汇集了来自爱荷华州立大学（ISU）和威奇托州立大学（WSU）的多学科科学家团队，探索和研究绿色尿素，使施肥模式向减少N2O和co2的农业和牧场转变。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二氧化亚氮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，捕获废弃的氮和二氧化碳也将有助于保护中西部地区的生态和环境系统，使其免受现有不可持续做法的压力，确保长期的经济繁荣和繁荣。绿色肥料技术的分布特性具有巨大潜力，可以为当地农业/牧场地区，特别是农村地区的低收入少数民族创造工资更高的就业机会，从而扩大受到气候变化不成比例影响的农业社区的能力和机会。该合作项目的总体目标是推广具有经济弹性和环保意识的氮肥（以绿色尿素为重点），以创新的方式缓解气候变化威胁下中西部农业和牧场社区所面临的挑战。EPSCoR的两个管辖区，爱荷华州的ISU和堪萨斯州的WSU，将携手合作，共同致力于以下研究主题：i)废氮捕获和产品净化的高级分离；2)创新电解合成绿色尿素；Iii)氮传感、建模和肥料利用的协同研究；4)社区对绿色肥料的接受度和政策变化的社会检验。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，从而减轻农业对气候变化的影响，同时确保中西部农业和牧场的可持续性。该研究成果将有助于深入了解农业GHG N2O排放、硝酸盐升级循环、尿素合成、CO2捕获与转化以及氮肥利用。它还将为新一代的N2O和硝酸盐传感、阴离子选择膜和高效化学制造技术开辟新的途径。同时，项目的执行提高了研究竞争力，发展了堪萨斯州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。基于堪萨斯州和爱荷华州在共同问题和农业繁荣方面的巨大协同作用，两所EPSCoR大学将提供一个独特的教育平台，旨在提高中西部地区公众对氮循环管理的认识，并培训下一代可持续农业劳动力。特别是，EPSCoR团队正在与少数族裔服务机构道奇城市社区学院（DC3）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族裔学生并培训少数族裔教学教师。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。

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.