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Udayasurian SR, Li T. Recent research progress on building C-N bonds via electrochemical NO x reduction. NANOSCALE 2024; 16:2805-2819. [PMID: 38240609 DOI: 10.1039/d3nr06151e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
The release of NOx species (such as nitrate, nitrite and nitric oxide) into water and the atmosphere due to human being's agricultural and industrial activities has caused a series of environmental problems, including accumulation of toxic pollutants that are dangerous to humans and animals, acid rain, the greenhouse effect and disturbance of the global nitrogen cycle balance. Electrosynthesis of organonitrogen compounds with NOx species as the nitrogen source offers a sustainable strategy to upgrade the waste NOx into value-added organic products under ambient conditions. The electrochemical reduction of NOx species can generate surface-adsorbed intermediates such as hydroxylamine, which are usually strong nucleophiles and can undergo nucleophilic attack to carbonyl groups to build C-N bonds and generate organonitrogen compounds such as amine, oxime, amide and amino acid. This mini-review summarizes the most recent progress in building C-N bonds via the in situ generation of nucleophilic intermediates from electrochemical NOx reduction, and highlights some important strategies in facilitating the reaction rates and selectivities towards the C-N coupling products. In particular, the preparation of high-performance electrocatalysts (e.g., nano-/atomic-scale catalysts, single-atom catalysts, alloy catalysts), selection of nucleophilic intermediates, novel design of reactors and understanding the surface adsorption process are highlighted. A few key challenges and knowledge gaps are discussed, and some promising research directions are also proposed for future advances in electrochemical C-N coupling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaktiswaran R Udayasurian
- School of Chemistry and Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester, M1 5GD, UK.
| | - Tengfei Li
- School of Chemistry and Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester, M1 5GD, UK.
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Song H, Chipoco Haro DA, Huang PW, Barrera L, Hatzell MC. Progress in Photochemical and Electrochemical C-N Bond Formation for Urea Synthesis. Acc Chem Res 2023; 56:2944-2953. [PMID: 37856878 PMCID: PMC10634294 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.3c00424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
ConspectusHere, we discuss recent advances and pressing challenges in achieving sustainable urea synthesis. Urea stands out as the most prevalent nitrogen-based fertilizer used across the globe, making up over 50% of all manufactured fertilizers. Historically, the Bosch-Meiser process has been the go-to chemical manufacturing method for urea production. This procedure, characterized by its high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, reacts ammonia with carbon dioxide to form ammonium carbamate. Subsequently, this ammonium carbamate undergoes dehydration, facilitated by heat, producing solid urea. A concerning aspect of this method is its dependency on fossil fuels, as nearly all the process heat comes from nonrenewable sources. Consequently, the Bosch-Meiser process leaves behind a considerable carbon footprint. Current estimates predict that unchecked, carbon emissions from urea production alone might skyrocket, reaching a staggering 286 MtCO2,eq/yr by 2050. Such projections paint a clear picture regarding the necessity for more eco-friendly, sustainable urea production methods. Recently, the scientific community has shown growing interest in forming C-N bonds using alternative methods. Shifting toward photochemical or electrochemical processes, as opposed to traditional thermal-based processes, promises the potential for complete electrification of urea synthesis. This shift toward process electrification is not just an incremental change; it represents a groundbreaking advancement, the first of many steps, toward achieving deep decarbonization in the chemical manufacturing sector. Since the turn of 2020, there has been a surge in research focusing on photochemical and electrochemical urea synthesis. These methods capitalize on co-reduction of carbon dioxide with nitrogenous reactants like NOx and N2. Despite the progress, there are significant challenges that hinder these processes from reaching their full potential. In this comprehensive review, we shed light on the advances made in electrified C-N bond formation. More importantly, we focus on the invaluable insights gathered over the years, especially concerning catalytic reaction mechanisms. We have dedicated a section to underline key focal areas for up-and-coming research, emphasizing catalyst, electrolyte, and reactor design. It is undeniable that catalyst design remains at the heart of the matter, as managing the co-reduction of two distinct reactants (CO2 and nitrogenous species) is complex. This process results in a myriad of intermediates, which must be adeptly managed to both maintain catalyst activity and avoid catalyst deactivation. Moreover, the electrolytes play a pivotal role, essentially dictating the creation of optimal microenvironments that drive reaction selectivity. Finally, reactor engineering stands out as crucial to ensure optimal mass transport for all involved reactants and subsequent products. We touch upon the broader environmental ramifications of urea production and bring to light potential obstacles for alternative synthesis routes. A notable mention is the urgency of accelerating the uptake and large-scale implementation of renewable energy sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hakhyeon Song
- George
W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Danae A. Chipoco Haro
- School
of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Po-Wei Huang
- School
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Luisa Barrera
- George
W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Marta C. Hatzell
- George
W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
- School
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
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Herrera A, D’Imporzano G, Clagnan E, Pigoli A, Bonadei E, Meers E, Adani F. Pig Slurry Management Producing N Mineral Concentrates: A Full-Scale Case Study. ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING 2023; 11:7309-7322. [PMID: 37213259 PMCID: PMC10196920 DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c07016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Manure treatment to recover nutrients presents a great challenge to delocalize nutrients from overloaded areas to those needing such nutrients. To do this, approaches for the treatment of manure have been proposed, and currently, they are mostly under investigation before being upgraded to full scale. There are very few fully operating plants recovering nutrients and, therefore, very few data on which to base environmental and economic studies. In this work, a treatment plant carrying out full-scale membrane technology to treat manure to reduce its total volume and produce a nutrient-rich fraction, i.e., the concentrate, was studied. The concentrate fraction allowed the recovery of 46% of total N and 43% of total P. The high mineral N content, i.e., N-NH4/total-N > 91%, allowed matching the REcovered Nitrogen from manURE (RENURE) criteria proposed by the European Commission to allow the potential substitution of synthetic chemical fertilizers in vulnerable areas characterized by nutrient overloading. Life cycle assessment (LCA) performed by using full-scale data indicated that nutrient recovery by the process studied, when compared with the production of synthetic mineral fertilizers, had a lower impact for the 12 categories studied. LCA also suggested precautions which might reduce environmental impacts even more, i.e., covering the slurry to reduce NH3, N2O, and CH4 emissions and reducing energy consumption by promoting renewable production. The system studied presented a total cost of 4.3 € tons-1 of slurry treated, which is relatively low compared to other similar technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Axel Herrera
- Gruppo
Ricicla - DiSAA, Università degli
Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Giuliana D’Imporzano
- Gruppo
Ricicla - DiSAA, Università degli
Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Elisa Clagnan
- Gruppo
Ricicla - DiSAA, Università degli
Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Ambrogio Pigoli
- Gruppo
Ricicla - DiSAA, Università degli
Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Elena Bonadei
- O.B.
Di Orazio Brunelli e Figli − S.N.C., Via Adua 52, 25034 Orzinuovi, BS, Italy
| | - Erik Meers
- Department
of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, University of Ghent, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Fabrizio Adani
- Gruppo
Ricicla - DiSAA, Università degli
Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
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Courtney C, Randall DG. Concentrating stabilized human urine using eutectic freeze crystallization for liquid fertilizer production. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 233:119760. [PMID: 36848853 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Resource recovery from source-separated urine can be used to produce fertilizers and provide a more sustainable alternative to mineral fertilizers. Reverse osmosis can be used to remove up to 70% of the water in urine that has been stabilized with Ca(OH)2 and pre-treated with air bubbling. However, further water removal is limited because of membrane scaling and equipment operating pressure limitations. A novel hybrid eutectic freeze crystallization (EFC) and RO system was investigated as a method to concentrate human urine, whilst simultaneously crystallizing salt and ice under EFC conditions. A thermodynamic model was used to predict the type of salts that would crystallize, their associated eutectic temperatures, and how much additional water removal was required (using freeze crystallization) to reach eutectic conditions. This innovative work showed that at eutectic conditions, Na2SO4∙10H2O crystallizes simultaneously with ice in both real and synthetic urine, thus providing a new method to concentrate human urine for liquid fertilizer production. A theoretical mass balance of a hybrid RO-EFC process, including ice washing and recycle streams, showed that 77% of the urea and 96% of the potassium could be recovered with a 95% water removal. The final liquid fertilizer would have a composition of 11.5% N and 3.5% K, and 3.5 kg of Na2SO4∙10H2O could be recovered from 1000 kg of urine. Over 98% of the phosphorus would be recovered as calcium phosphate during the urine stabilization step. A hybrid RO-EFC process would require 60 kWh m-3 of energy, which is substantially less than other concentration methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin Courtney
- Civil Engineering Department & Future Water Institute, University of Cape Town, 7700 Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Dyllon G Randall
- Civil Engineering Department & Future Water Institute, University of Cape Town, 7700 Cape Town, South Africa.
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Gaikwad A, Maga D, Schlüter S. Comparative Lifecycle Assessment of Methanol and Urea Produced from Steel Mill Gases. CHEM-ING-TECH 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/cite.202200040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ankur Gaikwad
- Fraunhofer-Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT Department Sustainability and Resource Management 46047 Oberhausen Germany
| | - Daniel Maga
- Fraunhofer-Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT Department Sustainability and Resource Management 46047 Oberhausen Germany
| | - Stefan Schlüter
- Fraunhofer-Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT Department Sustainability and Resource Management 46047 Oberhausen Germany
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Life cycle assessment of biocemented sands using enzyme induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) for soil stabilization applications. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6032. [PMID: 35411057 PMCID: PMC9001663 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09723-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractIntegrating sustainability goals into the selection of suitable soil stabilization techniques is a global trend. Several bio-inspired and bio-mediated soil stabilization techniques have been recently investigated as sustainable alternatives for traditional techniques known for their high carbon footprint. Enzyme Induced Carbonate Precipitation (EICP) is an emerging bio-inspired soil stabilization technology that is based on the hydrolysis of urea to precipitate carbonates that cement sand particles. A life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted to compare the use of traditional soil stabilization using Portland cement (PC) with bio-cementation via EICP over a range of environmental impacts. The LCA results revealed that EICP soil treatment has nearly 90% less abiotic depletion potential and 3% less global warming potential compared to PC in soil stabilization. In contrast, EICP in soil stabilization has higher acidification and eutrophication potentials compared to PC due to byproducts during the hydrolysis process. The sensitivity analysis of EICP emissions showed that reducing and controlling the EICP process emissions and using waste non-fate milk has resulted in significantly fewer impacts compared to the EICP baseline scenario. Moreover, a comparative analysis was conducted between EICP, PC, and Microbial Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) to study the effect of treated soil compressive strength on the LCA findings. The analysis suggested that EICP is potentially a better environmental option, in terms of its carbon footprint, at lower compressive strength of the treated soils.
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Rupawalla Z, Robinson N, Schmidt S, Li S, Carruthers S, Buisset E, Roles J, Hankamer B, Wolf J. Algae biofertilisers promote sustainable food production and a circular nutrient economy - An integrated empirical-modelling study. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 796:148913. [PMID: 34328895 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Agriculture has radically changed the global nitrogen (N) cycle and is heavily dependent on synthetic N-fertiliser. However, the N-use efficiency of synthetic fertilisers is often only 50% with N-losses from crop systems polluting the biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. To address the large carbon and energy footprint of N-fertiliser synthesis and curb N-pollution, new technologies are required to deliver enhanced energy efficiency, decarbonisation and a circular nutrient economy. Algae fertilisers (AF) are an alternative to synthetic N-fertiliser (SF). Here microalgae were used as biofertiliser for spinach production. AF production was evaluated using life-cycle analyses. Over 4 weeks, AF released 63.5% of N as bioavailable ammonium and nitrate, and 25% of phosphorous (P) as phosphate to the growth substrate; SF released 100% N and 20% P. To maximise crop N-use and minimise N-leaching, we explored AF and SF dose-response-curves with spinach in glasshouse conditions. AF-grown spinach produced 36% less biomass than SF-grown plants due to AF's slower and linear N-release; SF exhibited 5-times higher N-leaching than AF. Optimised AF:SF blends yielded greater synchrony between N-release and crop-uptake, boosting crop yields and minimising N-loss. Additional benefits of AF included greener leaves, lower leaf nitrate concentration, and higher microbial diversity and water holding capacity of the growth substrate. An integrated techno-economic and life-cycle-analysis of scaled-up microalgae systems (+/- wastewater) normalised to the application dose showed that replacing the most effective SF-dose with AF lowered the annual carbon footprint of fertiliser production from 3.644 kg CO2 m-2 (C-producing) to -6.039 kg CO2 m-2 (C-assimilation). N-loss from growth substrate was lowered by 54%. Embodied energy for AF:SF blends could be reduced by 29% when cultivating microalgae on wastewater. Conclusions: (i) microalgae offer a sustainable alternative to synthetic N-fertiliser for spinach production and potentially other crop systems, (ii) microalgae biofertilisers support the circular-nutrient-economy and several UN-Sustainable-Development-Goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeenat Rupawalla
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Nicole Robinson
- School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Susanne Schmidt
- School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Sijie Li
- School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Selina Carruthers
- School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Elodie Buisset
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - John Roles
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Ben Hankamer
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Juliane Wolf
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
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