| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T23: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Advanced Ceramics for Environmental Remediation
|
| Presentation Title |
Ceramic Materials for Sustainable Capture and Reuse of Plant Nutrients as Fertilizer |
| Author(s) |
Allen Apblett, Ciara Kelley, Patrick Kitzel |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Allen Apblett |
| Abstract Scope |
Plant nutrient pollution is a costly problem with widespread negative health and ecological effects. Similarly, build-up of nutrients in aquaria water leads to algal growth and toxicity to aquatic organisms and fish. An ideal solution to these problems is capturing such nutrients in a form that is amenable to application as a fertilizer, thus turning a pollutant into a valuable resource. We have developed magnesium aluminum oxide and magnesium iron oxides from calcining a layered double hydroxide that are good adsorbents for both phosphate and nitrate. The material possesses excellent capacity for sorption of the highly difficult to capture nitrate ions due to a molecular imprinting process. These materials can capture plant nutrients from municipal wastewater and aquaria and can then be utilized as time release fertilizer. The possibility of using this low-cost material as a soil additive to prevent fertilizer runoff will also be discussed. |