George Wells Receives NSF ECO-CBET Grant
Large amounts of nitrogen are released into streams, rivers, lakes and eventually coastal waters, due to urban, industrial and agricultural activities. While technologies exist to remove this nitrogen, they are costly, energy intensive, and often difficult to implement. Hence, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has identified the nitrogen problem as one of the Grand Challenges of 21st century engineering. In response, the National Science Foundation solicited proposals for the Environmental Convergence Opportunities in Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (ECO-CBET) to “support activities that confront vexing environmental engineering and sustainability problems by uncovering and incorporating fundamental knowledge to design new processes, materials, and devices from a systems-level perspective.”
Prof. George Wells in collaboration with Professors Keith Tyo, Justin Notestein, and Jennifer Dunn in Chemical and Biological Engineering at NU and Will Tarpeh Civil & Environmental Engineering at Stanford, successfully competed in a national competition for funding and will be awarded $1.7M for three years to develop the new scientific knowledge upon which novel technologies will concentrate, separate, and transform waste nitrogen-rich compounds into animal feed and beneficial products. Successful completion of this work will prevent nitrogen pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a new sustainable feedstock for chemicals.
To see the technical abstract, click here.
To see the program information, click here.