{"671730":{"#nid":"671730","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Photochemistry and a New Catalyst Could Make Fertilizer More Sustainable","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech engineers are working to make fertilizer more sustainable \u2014 from production to productive reuse of the runoff after application \u2014 and a pair of new studies is offering promising avenues at both ends of the process.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn one paper, researchers have unraveled how nitrogen, water, carbon, and light can interact with a catalyst to produce ammonia at ambient temperature and pressure, a much less energy-intensive approach than current practice. The second paper describes a stable catalyst able to convert waste fertilizer back into nonpolluting nitrogen that could one day be used to make new fertilizer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESignificant work remains on both processes, but the senior author on the papers, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/hatzell\u0022\u003EMarta Hatzell\u003C\/a\u003E, said they\u2019re a step toward a more sustainable cycle that still meets the needs of a growing worldwide population.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe often think it would be nice not to have to use synthetic fertilizers for agriculture, but that\u2019s not realistic in the near term considering how much plant growth is dependent on synthetic fertilizers and how much food the world\u2019s population needs,\u201d said Hatzell, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cThe idea is that maybe one day you could manufacture, capture, and recycle fertilizer on site.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/01\/photochemistry-and-new-catalyst-could-make-fertilizer-more-sustainable\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGet the full story on the College of Engineering website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENew insight into the role of carbon in a low-temperature, light-based reaction may help create ammonia for fertilizer while a new catalyst offers a path to recycling the runoff.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New insight into the role of carbon in a low-temperature, light-based reaction may help create ammonia for fertilizer while a new catalyst offers a path to recycling the runoff."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2023-12-22 18:54:06","changed_gmt":"2024-01-11 17:31:11","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-01-04T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-01-04T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672644":{"id":"672644","type":"image","title":"Tractor Fertilizer stock","body":null,"created":"1703271254","gmt_created":"2023-12-22 18:54:14","changed":"1703271254","gmt_changed":"2023-12-22 18:54:14","alt":"Closeup view of a red tractor spreading fertilizer pellets in a field.","file":{"fid":"255920","name":"Tractor-fertilizer-iStock-512505322-t.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/22\/Tractor-fertilizer-iStock-512505322-t.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/22\/Tractor-fertilizer-iStock-512505322-t.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1800811,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/12\/22\/Tractor-fertilizer-iStock-512505322-t.jpg?itok=EVnhOyPB"}}},"media_ids":["672644"],"groups":[{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"179792","name":"Marta Hatzell"},{"id":"10946","name":"fertilizer"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"188803","name":"go-materials"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}