Population growth is necessitating a significant increase in crop production while regulations are requiring less use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, such as urea, to minimize environmental influx. A large fraction of applied N is currently lost with significant negative environmental effects. The work presented will focus on engineering organophosphorus-free urea cocrystals using a solvent-free sustainable mechanochemical synthesis and quantifying the resulting N gas emissions, N partitioning into soil (longevity/stability therein) and plants. Traditional methods of producing N-P-K fertilizers that use NH3 as a reactant, typically produce 1.4-2.6 kg of CO2 equivalent per kg of N fixed in energy consumed.On the other hand, a typical industrial ball-mill requires ~0.01 kWh/kg of solid (monoammonium phosphate, MAP) milled, which translates to 0.005 kg of CO2 equivalent per kg of solid milled. The main purpose of this work is hence to quantify and compare differences in N-loss between urea and urea cocrystals to yield the same amount of biomass as significant savings are expected due to improved N-efficiency.

Green chemistry of nutrient recovery: From mechanochemistry to reduced nitrogen loss

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.