Goals
This VIP will try to answer the following questions. How will the world produce more food from less land while minimizing waste and energy? To address world hunger, current estimates suggest that the production of food over the next 40 years, will need to equal the production of food over last 8000 years. This will occur primarily through democratization of fertilizer usage globally. This promotes a growing need for low cost ways to manufacture fertilizers (ammonia) to promote equity in food production.
Issues Involved or Addressed
1. Design and test plasma reactor for converting nitrogen to nitrate. 2. Design and test a electrocatalytic reactor to convert nitrate to ammonia. 3. Design continuous process that combines the two reactors. 4. Design controls system for the process. 5. Assess how this technology could disrupt the current supply chain for ammonia production. 6. Evaluating the environmental impacts of a decentralized solar driven fertilizer device.
Methods and Technologies
Academic Majors of Interest
- Business›Operations and Supply Chain Management
- Computing›Computational Science and Engineering
- Engineering›Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Engineering›Electrical Engineering
- Engineering›Environmental Engineering
- Engineering›Materials Science and Engineering
- Engineering›Mechanical Engineering
- Sciences›Chemistry
Preferred Interests and Preparation
Ansys modeling, thermodynamics, basic chemistry, interest in electrochemistry, interest in sustainability, interest in clean energy production.
Meeting Schedule & Location
Team Advisors
- Mechanical Engineering