{"id":10196,"date":"2024-12-09T16:46:20","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T16:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=10196"},"modified":"2024-12-11T14:24:59","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T14:24:59","slug":"biosystems-reimagining-sustainable-development-of-plastic-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=10196","title":{"rendered":"Biosystems: Protecting oceans and lakes from phosphorus runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sushil Adhikari, Wendiam Sawadgo and Hossein Jahromi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Auburn\u2019s Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts<\/a> (CBB), things are coming up roses… and ryegrass.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the model crops CBB researchers, along with a team of academic collaborators from the University of Delaware, New Mexico State University, Ireland and Northern Ireland, will use for a $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) project testing the efficacy of a dual-function biochar substrate \u2014 duo-biochar they\u2019re calling it \u2014 that captures excess phosphorus in soils and releases it slowly to meet plant needs.<\/p>\n

The main idea is to ultimately keep the stuff out of oceans and lakes where too much phosphorus runoff from increasingly expensive synthetic fertilizers contributes to those large, oxygen-deprived \u201cdead zones\u201d \u2014 the Gulf of Mexico has one the size of New Jersey \u2014 you read about in the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiochar is a material made from plants through the thermochemical conversion of biomass,\u201d said CBB director Sushil Adhikari, Alumni Professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has micro-, meso- and macro-pore networks, functional groups and inorganic compounds that can absorb phosphorus. However, regular biochar isn\u2019t usually made to distribute phosphorus to plants because fundamental science on the transient nutrient retention and release of biochar is lacking,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

At least, it\u2019s lacking for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next year, our team will use state-of-the-art material characterization techniques to gain insight into slow phosphorus release properties in greenhouses and field trials conducted in Ireland and Northern Ireland,\u201d Adhikari said.<\/p>\n

In the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, recent studies show high legacy phosphorus, applications saturating soils with phosphorus, which increasingly threatens water quality in the countries\u2019 lakes.<\/p>\n

Adhikari serves as the project\u2019s principal investigator; co-PIs are Wendiam Sawadgo, extension professor in the College of Agriculture, and Hossein Jahromi, assistant research professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering. \u201cExpanding the utility of biochar also has the potential to sequester carbon while providing agronomic benefits,\u201d Adhikari said. \u201cWe feel this project can also help reduce the agriculture sector\u2019s carbon footprint and address the impacts of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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