Research teams from Iowa State University and Wichita State University in Kansas, US, are teaming up to develop a system that captures waste nitrogen and carbon dioxide to produce a green fertilizer that reduces emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂).

₂O (nitrous oxide)- and CO₂ relieved nitrogen fertilizers with economic resilience and environmental consciousness as an innovative way to mitigate the challenges posed upon climate change-threatened Midwest farming and ranching communities."

The National Science Foundation is supporting the project with a four-year, US$4 million grant, with half going to Iowa State and half going to Wichita State. The funding is from the agency's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

EPSCoR grants are designed to build scientific infrastructure and capabilities across the country. This grant is from EPSCoR's 'track 2' program that promotes research collaborations among states or territories. The program's current focus is 'advancing climate change research and resilience capacity.'

The Kansas team's tasks will include capturing and concentrating nitrate, separating urea, studying soil microbial communities, conducting life-cycle assessments of green fertilizers and determining societal impacts of green fertilizers.

The researchers will also do life-cycle and economic analyses of using green fertilizer, develop advanced sensors for in-field measurement of nitrogen use by plants, study plant metabolism of nitrous oxide, look at the impacts of policy changes and work to encourage the use of green fertilizers.