Nitrogen is a highly abundant element in the Earth’s atmosphere. Nitrogen is also essential for life. However, atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is not useful in living processes. Reactive nitrogen such as Ammonia or Nitrate are reactive forms of nitrogen used by plants and animals. To maximize crop yield, many farmers add nitrogen based fertilizer to their crops. Oftentimes excess nitrogen in the soil is washed away by rain into other natural water systems. This nitrogen runoff can and does have devastating effects on the biodiversity in waterways. Excess nitrogen in waterways can cause eutrophication, where algae takes advantage of the excess nitrogen and feed on it causing much larger algal blooms. The algal blooms eventually lead to a dramatic reduction of dissolved oxygen in the water, which causes a dead zone where little to no aquatic animals and plants are able to survive. An example of a dead zone largely caused by excess reactive nitrogen is the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico which measures approximately 5,500-6,500 square miles (Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone).
The Haber-Bosch process is used to produce reactive nitrogen, specifically for fertilizers. This process produces approximately 100Tg of reactive nitrogen per year (Chen, Ling-Hsiang). It is clear we can effectively produce reactive nitrogen, however, we need to clean up after ourselves by finishing the the nitrogen cycle. There is a lot more reactive nitrogen being introduced to the environment, but the rate of denitrification has essentially stayed the same. Our team will focus on denitrification, in an effort to restore safer nitrogen levels in waterways and bodies of water and ultimately to help make the completion of the nitrogen cycle more efficient.
How we plan to achieve denitrification:
Denitrification Process: NO3 → NO2 → NO → N2O → N2
