PFI-TT: Advancing Nanocellulose-Enabled Bio-Nanofertilizers for Agriculture

The broader impacts and commercial potentials of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project will significantly reduce the nitrogen fertilizer usage, thus reducing the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Overuse of nitrogen fertilizers leads to nutrient losses that contribute to climatic change that in turn negatively affects agricultural productivity and environmental health. This project creates a new nanofertilizer from underutilized biomass feedstocks and wastewater nutrient recovery. Furthermore, this project trains future leaders in agricultural entrepreneurship and innovation management. The proposed project advances a simple approach using nitric acid-sodium nitrite mixtures (both are key ingredients for N-fertilizer synthesis) that can extract nanocellulose directly from untreated non-woody plants (e.g. agricultural residues) with significant reduction of chemical, water and energy needs. This nitro-oxidation process (NOP) approach combines the steps of pulping and cellulose oxidation. In addition, the spent liquor in the process can be readily converted into plant fertilizer. Nanocellulose has been shown to be an effective scaffolding material to host a multitude of organic and inorganic nanoparticles and to create low-cost and environmentally friendly nanocomposite. The proposed activities will (1) demonstrate and evaluate the scale-up of NOP operation, involving process optimization, safety procedure development, efficient conversion of spent liquor and understanding of the structure-functionality-process relationships from various non-woody biomass feedstocks, and (2) synthesize a new kind of nanocellulose-enabled bio-nanofertilizer, including ammonium-nanocellulose, ZnO nanoparticle-nanocellulose, and CuO nanoparticle-anchored nanocellulose composites. The proposed research will provide new knowledge for creating effective nanofertilizers and for overcoming technical hurdles to upcycle two major waste streams i.e., underutilized biomass, and excess N-nutrients in wastewater. 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.