Source: UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS submitted to
WATER AND NUTRIENT RECYCLING: A DECISION TOOL AND SYNERGISTIC INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
EXTENDED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1016509
Grant No.
2018-68011-28691
Project No.
ARK065355
Proposal No.
2017-08827
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
A9101
Project Start Date
Aug 1, 2018
Project End Date
Jul 31, 2024
Grant Year
2018
Project Director
Popp, J. S.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
(N/A)
FAYETTEVILLE,AR 72703
Performing Department
Chemical Engineering
Non Technical Summary
The combination of continued global population growth, with an additional 3 billion people over the next 40 years, and expected intensification of climate variability and resulting variability in reliable water resources requires that water recycling become an integrated part of agricultural water resource management. Further, important nutrients are lost to wastewaters but could be recycled and reused for food production. Absent a concerted effort to recycle these nutrients, the food supply demand will inherently create a less resilient agriculture industry. Water treatment and nutrient needs will vary geographically and based on production. Thus, a user-driven strategy for food production supported by wastewater and nutrient recycling inherently demands not only a systems-based approach, but a flexible decision-making approach. We will study innovative technology for liquid manure wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery within the framework of a decision-making tool that allows technology selection based on region-specific needs for water recycling and food production. The tool will be built upon an economic and life cycle assessment model that guides the user to technology selection based on user-based knowledge of soil chemistry, fertilization needs, crop selection, livestock production, desired level of wastewater treatment, water use, wastewater production, and regulatory requirements.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
50%
Developmental
40%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1110210202025%
4033499202025%
4033599202025%
1110210301025%
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of this project is to create a decision-support tool that facilitates selection of liquid manure treatment technology based upon local agriculture needs and nutrient balance requirements.The technical innovation goal of this project is to apply robust, membrane-based electrochemical engineering technology, which has been developed and commercialized in the energy sector, to enable manure treatment and water/nutrient recycling for food production.The extension goal of this project is to engage stakeholders in the agricultural community and the water treatment technology industry to develop an understanding of water recycling technologies and the opportunities and challenges to implementation in the agricultural sector for treating liquid manure.Objectives Design and test electrochemical technology for treatment of and nutrient recovery from liquid manure.Study the impacts of recovered water/fertilizer on soil productivity and crop response.Evaluate economic costs and benefits of water treatment technologies related to liquid manure management and crop production.Develop a lifecycle assessment (LCA) model based on three regions: Nebraska, Arkansas, and Missouri.Develop a modular decision-support tool that guides users in water and nutrient recycling technology selection based upon specific regional and farm operational parameters.Engage agricultural and industrial stakeholders nationally on integrating the most locally robust manure treatment technology into agricultural production.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Electrochemical Technology PlatformHeteropolyacids (HPAs) such as those based on phosphorous heteroatoms, with molybdenum and vanadium shells, will be used, which will transform oxygen into active radical species. From these membrane and carbon-functionalized components, we will fabricate membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with the appropriate HPA in both the membrane and the anode for the galvanic oxidative decomposition of organics using air at the cathode. We will change the cationic groups (by quaternization using a number of amines that we have developed) of alkaline exchange membranes (AEMs) and degree of cross-linking to make highly selective AEMs for anions separations. We will investigate robust copper mesh electrode designs and compare to experimental copper nanoparticle catalysts on conductive carbon electrode supports. Based on studies with synthetic waters, electrodes will be tested with liquid manure. We will study electrochemical precipitation of monoammonium phosphate and diammonium phosphate, which are well-known fertilizer compounds with direct commercial comparisons. We will study non-toxic protein-based material which includes anti-microbial, anti-fouling and self-assembly properties. Protein engineering will also be utilized to aid in the recovery of nutrients. Test cells and systems will be designed based on commercially available 5-50 cm2 cell hardware. Demonstrations in these cells will be utilized in this project to help inform life cycle assessment, economic analysis, and the decision-support tool.Objective 2: Recovered Nutrients and Water Effects on Soil and Crop ResponseEach fertilizer product will be analyzed for pH and electrical conductivity (EC) and sub-samples will be extracted for water-soluble, weak-acid-extractable, and total recoverable minerals (i.e., P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Na, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, Al, Cd, Cr, As, and Se) by inductively coupled, argon-plasma spectrometry (ICAPS). Total C and N will be determined by high-temperature combustion, and organic matter will be determined by loss-on-ignition. The various recovered water generated will be analyzed for pH and EC. To assess behavior and breakdown kinetics in the soil environment, the various recovered fertilizers and their commercially available counterparts will be evaluated in a soil incubation experiment without plants. Each fertilizer will be uniformly mixed with 100-250 g of air-dried soil in small plastic incubation containers. Two common soils from Arkansas, Missouri, and Nebraska will be used. Based on results of the greenhouse studies, a field study will be conducted to evaluate the recovered fertilizers under field conditions with corn and wheat. A single, agronomically relevant P application rate of two recovered fertilizers and their commercially available counterparts will be applied and tilled into the top 10 cm of a silt-loam soil in standard-size field plots (3 m wide by 6 m long). Supplemental N will be applied as urea (46% N).Objective 3: Economic AnalysisCosts associated with the electrochemical treatment technology will be estimated following standard cost-benefit procedures. The cost analysis will be conducted for a range of capital and operating materials that could be used to create a bench scale reactor and other materials needed as identified in Objective 1. Data gathered in Objective 6 will be used to estimate the overall capital, operational, management, and maintenance costs for the various combination of farm needs and technology. Benefits of the electrochemical technology are expected to include the market value of recovered nutrients used as fertilizer. These recovery estimates will be based on results of Objective 2 and coupled with expert opinion from the farms/businesses surveyed in Objective 6. These costs will be compared to nutrient production levels to illustrate net benefits of the technology per kilogram of P produced. Using information gained in Objectives 1, 2, 3 (Task 1) and 6, as well as data gathered from industry experts, livestock input suppliers, academic and government sources including Brown, USEIA, USDA ERS and ISU, economic algorithms will be developed and integrated into the decision tool. As a result, the user will be able to assess the relative cost efficiencies associated with different liquid manure management strategies. Case studies of "example farms" in AR, MO and NE will be developed for use in the extension materials that explain tool operation and results.Objective 4: Scan-Level Life Cycle AssessmentRegion-specific inventory will be linked to unit processes that describe the treatment options and relevant displaced activities. Given the availability of generic LCIA methodologies, for example, TRACIE 2, ReCiPe, and Impact World+, new methodologies are not needed. Scenarios, built on the outputs of decision-support and econometric modeling from other team members, will be evaluated in tandem with the LCIA results to identify the more sustainable alternatives. LCIA will enable us to pinpoint hotspots and/or vulnerabilities, and to identify superior environmental options. Impact World +, includes the capability for geo-spatially explicit impact assessment and we propose to adopt this as a default environmental impact assessment method. This will enable a robust regional assessment of the proposed alternative treatment options.Objective 5: Decision-Making Tool for Water Treatment and Nutrient RecoveryWe will adapt or link with tools associated with the MMP suite to obtain local screening data regarding soils and estimates soil nutrient levels as one of the constraining factors associated with technical solutions for manure treatment. We propose to collect and combine, within the decision-support platform, available models for predicting nutrient characteristics and transformation associated with the identified technologies. We will begin with very simple models that, for example, account for nutrient flows as a simple difference between ingested and deposited nutrients linked with simple kinetic degradation models to account for nutrient transformation prior to land application. Throughout the project, these computational modules will be improved to more systematically account for microbial and chemical transformations using mass balance and first-order kinetic expressions. We will, for example, adapt algorithms from the Manure DNDC model and develop specific simulation algorithms for the novel technologies which will be evaluated as part of this project.Objective 6: Extension ProgramThe extension component will be focused on collecting field information, feeding into the water and nutrient recovery technology, the decision-support tool and the economic analysis. Extension personnel will intently assess some successful production models that utilize new and practical water recycling technology, working closely with both the producers and technology providers, and providing critical packages that producer and technology parties can use. We will reach out to stakeholders and advisory committee members to identify at least 10 successful dairy and swine production farms that are utilizing water recycling and/or nutrient extraction technologies. The costs of the different water recycling will be compared to the region's typical operation models. Most information and publications will be broadcasted via each state's extension channels, and through a nationally recognized outreach venue, the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center (LPELC). Through workshops (with field demonstrations and training), the team will explain the research findings, demonstrate the decision-support tool, and distribute the extension materials. We will organize two national conferences in Years 3 and 5, focusing on the water and nutrient recycling of agricultural production systems.

Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Scientific Audiences The target audiences for project activities focused on the development of electrochemical treatment technology for nutrient management and water resource management include engineering researchers; researchers, and practitioners in the agricultural community focused on water resource quality, nutrient management, nutrient recycling, and recycled fertilizers; students in engineering and agriculture programs; researchers focused on adapting and developing electrochemical technology for water and nutrient management; scientific community interested in participating in water and peptide research and people in the commercialization space interested in developing new technologies for applications in agricultural nutrient. Target audiences for the remaining activities also included soils, crops and economics researchers focusing on agronomic, economic and environmental impacts of manure management. Stakeholder Audiences During this period we continued expanding relationships with industry professionals including extension specialists, technology providers, manure management system service providers, livestock system consultants as well as dairy and swine producers who are successfully operating on-farm wastewater and nutrient reuse technologies or systems. Some of these stakeholders include The stakeholders include NEWTRIENT, CST Industries, Inc., Trident Process, Inc., and FAN Separator - BAUER group, as examples. Through these efforts, we gained insights into the current and emerging technologies used in manure management systems and the costs and benefits of implementing the technologies. We presented to these groups at national conferences and other venues, and conducted demonstrations of the decision support tool to engage with and solicit feedback for improving the DST. The information gathered allowed us to identify the most relevant systems and technologies to focus on in the development of the DST. Changes/Problems:Objective 1: Dr. Lauren Greenlee, the original PI of the project and the advisor of the students working on this project, decided to leave the university and take up a new position with a start-up company. As a result, the graduate students on this project were assigned to a new advisor (Bruce Logan) and moved to a new lab. This transition slowed down the progress of objective 1 for a few months. Dr. Logan is an expert in the topics related to this project and therefore it is possible to continue working on the project despite the departure of Dr. Greenlee. Objective 2: None Objectives 3 and 4: Folded into Objective 5. Objective 5: The decision tool incorporates a wide array of manure treatment technologies and practices. In addition to assessing the environmental and economic impacts, we also incorporate qualitative scoring methods for these technologies. However, it is important to note that the scoring of manure treatment technologies is limited in the tool. To address this, we developed a survey to gather insights from professionals regarding the adoption rate, reliability, and integrity of different dairy and swine manure management technologies. This survey helps to supplement the decision-making process and incorporate valuable perspectives from industry experts. Prices associated with some of the economic metrics can be elusive and difficult to maintain overtime as much of these data are not available through open source platforms. We will include pricing sourcing (when not held confidential by our vendor agreements) in the user manual to assist in a user's ability to update prices as needed. Objective 6: Some wastewater/manure technologies require improvements and more data to show effectiveness. Some vendors have delayed our site visit request multiple times. For some of the field installations, we decided to postpone case study publications and would follow up to see more site installations and data collection. During this project period, our 1.0-FTE staff Mr. Gilbert Miito has left his position at the end of December 2022. We have received permission and posted a job announcement, and plan to hire a new postdoc in the summer of 2023. As the DST will not be finailized until sometime this next reporting period, we hope to use conferences and seminars scheduled for July -September 2024 to promote the adoption of the tool and to train users. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two CWRU students traveled to and gave numerous presentations at national scientific meetings, including the Fall 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in Phoenix, AZ and the 2023 Gordon Research Conference on Peptide Materials in Galveston, TX. Additionally, a CWRU post-doc attended and networked at the Spring 2023 American Chemical Society meeting in Indianapolis, IN. The PI also chaired a session at the AIChE Meeting on Biomolecules at Interfaces. One graduate student has completed his studies based on the project, successfully writing and defending a thesis. The UA economics graduate student has greatly increased her knowledge of economic methods, economic theory by presenting at the Western Agricultural Economics Association and Southern Agricultural Economics Association annual meetings. She has met agricultural economics faculty from around the nation who have provided input on studies and project duties. She has expanded her student networks at these meetings as well. She has established connections with other research and extension specialists, as well as technology providers. She has led the demonstration of the tool with diverse sets of stakeholders, greatly contributing to the refinement in the functionality and presentation of the decision support tool. The UA postdoc contributes to the project and gains experience in dairy and swine housing systems, manure handling methods, treatment technologies, and dissemination through conferences and publications. He collaborates with industry experts to identify best practices for the decision support tool's development. Varma's involvement provides him with considerable knowledge in manure management and decision support tool development, benefiting from the collaborative efforts of the project team. He is also developing expertise in constructing LCA models and using AHP for the decision support system. He is gaining leadership skills by serving as the lead to the graduate student and research technician. The four UA soil science graduate students have experienced training and development in the areas of i) laboratory, greenhouse, and field skills, ii) various soil and plant sampling techniques, iii) working independently and as a part of a team, iv) data acquisition and analyses, and v) scientific writing and presentation. The students have also participated in periodic project meetings and have gained knowledge and development from the various classes they have taken already. In addition to opportunities in previous years, the CSM graduate student gained writing and presentation skills as she completed her thesis and graduated this year. The PSU graduate students attended weekly group meetings with the PI and other researchers and presented their progress and got feedback as needed from these researchers. They also met with the PI in person as needed to discuss the details of their research once necessary. Both attended the monthly AFRI meetings and shared their progress with other members of the team as well. The students have participated in annual conferences appropriate for their professional development. The MSU post docs gained extensive presentation experiences and have built strong agricultural networks through their interactions at conferences, on farms and with other industry stakeholders. They presented research and publications at several forums, including seminars and conferences. We also collaborated with conferences and professional technical committees to sponsor workshops about our project effort and decision support tool, and sponsor invited speaker sessions in international conferences for stakeholders. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Much of our work has been distributed at conferences and in journal articles as presented in section 3 above. The audiences at these conferences have ranged from single university campus employees, to regional, national and international audiences. These conferences have attracted individuals with economics, chemical engineering, biological engineering backgrounds, soil science and agricultural production backgrounds. As mentioned in section 2 audience members include scientific, academic, industry and agricultural communities. Further some of the UA personnel have also shared our progress/information with scientists involved in other related federally funded research. Published journal articles have targeted engineering researchers. Extension publications have targeted farmers and agricultural technology industry and experts. We have also started disseminating information with the decision support tool, however most presentations of the tool to date have been for data and process validation purposes. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: CSM will continue to refine AEMs. CSM and CWRU will work to functionalize and realize AEMs with amelogenin peptides attached for struvite precipitation. This work should be completed over the next year. The PSU will finalize and submit a manuscript on the developed modified Donnan dialysis process. In addition, we will continue to build on the preliminary data we obtained from the symmetric Mg-Mg reactor. We also expect to finish a manuscript on the formation of K-struvite. This work will elucidate the role of chloride in electrode behavior and the impact of pH on the type and removal rate of nutrients. Other routes, such as recovering other useful minerals from wastewater, or different Mg-based electrochemical systems will be pursued depending on time and further investigations. For the collaborative nitrate reduction study, the stability of positively charged peptides on the surface of bare gold will be analyzed. Furthermore, electrochemical experiments combined with detailed product analysis will be performed. Objective 2: We plan to complete all aspects of a greenhouse tub study with greenhouse gas emissions from furrow-irrigated rice and various fertilizer-P sources, including electrochemically and chemically precipitated struvite. We plan to complete three MS thesis chapters and two dissertation chapters and their accompanying journal manuscripts for submission. Objective 3: Folded into Objective 5. Objective 4: Folded into Objective 5. Objective 5: During the next reporting period, we will complete the few remaining scenarios for the dairy and swine manure management tools. We will finish reviewing and validating the current datasets and models utilized in the economic analyses and environmental . We aim to ensure the accuracy and functionality of the dairy and swine manure management tools by verifying information and model performance. We will complete the first draft of the user manual as a comprehensive report summarizing the development process, methodology, and key findings of the "Decision Tool." This manual will serve as a guide for users, providing detailed instructions on how to effectively utilize and navigate the tool. We plan to organize sessions where we can demonstrate the "Decision Tool" to stakeholders such as farmers, industry experts, and relevant parties. These sessions will allow us to showcase the tool's features and gather valuable feedback. We will conduct analyses to explore the sensitivity of different parameters and assess the statistical significance of the tool's output. This will provide insights into the impact of various factors on the results. We will continue collaborating with industry partners, vendors, and research/extension specialists to collect relevant data. Objective 6: We plan to collaborate with two or more technology providers and farmers to document more innovative water/nutrient cycling systems. We also hope to complete all the extension publications that are currently in the work and most of the in-progress publications are in revision now. We intend to attend more commodity events, such as expos and conferences, to connect and/or collaborate with more progressive farmers. We hope to better understand the existing water/nutrient recycling systems to help improve the systems and encourage the adoption of the practical management systems. We will continue to facilitate the technology-transfer team to provide input into the DST and other extension efforts.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The electrochemical technology team has developed a modular, energy-efficient modified Donnan dialysis process for water recycling and nutrient recovery from liquid manure that avoids loss of nutrients such as phosphorus and ammonium from wastewater and recovers them as solid and liquid fertilizer. Electrode treatment could provide a way to enhance electrochemical nitrate removal. Peptide-modified electrodes were therefore examined as one type of coating to increase nitrate removal and treatment of wastewater. Progress continued on developing methods for attaching and organizing peptides on solid supports enables research into the effect of peptide design and immobilization on interaction with nutrients in solution. The decision support tool team has now designed 87 treatment alternatives ( 60 dairy and 27 swine, representing 20 and 13 unit processes or technologies for dairy and swine, respectively), for analysis in the decision support tool. Our integrated modules, considering mass and energy balances, equipment costs, and process performance, calculate the overall economic and environmental performance of each MMSs on a per animal/day or per animal/year basis. The extension team has contributed to extension seminars, conferences, webinars, and published extension and conference publications. We engage with agricultural stakeholders to help better understand manure and water recycling technologies and the opportunities for implementation in the agricultural sector. We have also studied and documented several wastewater recycling and manure management systems with the goals of sharing the experience with potential users in terms of setting up, operating, managing, and costs and benefits from these technologies. Objective 1: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: a) Continued to work with Spark Ionx Inc. to commercialize AEM for water applications. Production process was refined and membrane performance and durability increased; b) The impact of a peptide additive on struvite formation was studied via high through-put screening across several pertinent variables; c) Open circuit voltage (OCV) experiments were conducted in a cation exchange membrane-separated Donnan dialysis process with and without a sacrificial magnesium electrode. 2) Data collected: a) ionic conductivity, water swelling, ionic exchange capacity; b) struvite aspect ratio and morphology from addition of peptide; c) Electrochemistry results, water chemistry data on nutrient removal, and material characterization outputs using SEM/EDS, FT-IR, CV experiment data and and XRD. 3) Results: a) Ionic conductivities >01 S cm-1, thickness of film 20-30 ± 1 mm, water selling <50%; b) Affinity peptides bound to non-ideal surfaces (like polymers) and loaded with cerium retain their ability to capture phosphate ions. Addition of an appropriate sequence-defined peptide to nutrient solutions can increase yield of struvite; c) Complete phosphate removal in the form of useful fertilizer, mainly struvite, and selective nutrient separation through a CEM were achieved using a Magnesium-based Donnan dialysis process. 4) Key outcomes: a) Membranes are ready for pilot scale testing; b) A method for scalable production of peptides that facilitate struvite formation was developed, One PhD student graduated; C) significant improvements in phosphate removal rate were made compared to conventional Donnan processes. Objective 2: 1) Major activities: One greenhouse tub study and one field experiment were conducted and completed. 2) Data collected: plant dry matter and tissue nutrient concentrations and uptakes, final soil analyses, weekly measured CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes/emissions from flood-irrigated rice (greenhouse) and furrow-irrigated rice(field) 3) Results: Plant tissue, soil data , gas fluxs/emissions data have been statistically analyzed and are in the process of being summarized. Numerous rice properties and greenhouse gas fluxes and emissions from flood-irrigated rice vary between fertilizer-P source treatments in the greenhouse study. In the field study, greenhouse gas fluxes and emissions from furrow-irrigated rice have been shown to be unaffected by fertilizer-P sources. 4) Key outcomes: Under flood-irrigation in the greenhouse, both electrochemically and chemically precipitated struvite have many similar plant and greenhouse gas responses compared to other commercially available fertilizer-P sources. Struvite, particularly electrochemical, appears to be a viable alternative fertilizer-P sources. Objective 3: Because the crop studies for this project were revised to take place at the pot level, and because a related project has studied the effectiveness of struvite in field studies, the economics has focused away from the crop study. Instead, we assumed a more leadership role in the solicitation of technology providers and collection of the cost data associated with the technologies than was described in the proposal. Objective 4: This objective is now fully integrated into the DST in objective 5. We have used the ecoinvent database to develop emissions estimates for farm activities which are incorporated directly in the DST. Objective 5: 1) Major activities: Explored vendors of innovative manure treatment technologies. Developed a modified Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) decision algorithm. Users can assign priorities to MMSs alternatives based on criteria and goals. We began economic and environmental data validation and worked with outside reviewers to confirm model defaults and assess use and feel of the model. 2) Data collected: Data were collected from online databases, relevant literature and reports, and direct communication with research scientists and industry vendors (through surveys/questionnaires). New surveys this year sought information on technology adoption and reliability. 3) Results: The tool now contains 60 dairy and 27 swine manure management scenarios. The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) and economic results for the individual MMS alternatives have been connected to the modified AHP ranking modules. 4) Key outcomes: The tool not only allows the evaluation of dozens of manure technology systems but also allows the selection of the appropriate technology to vary, based on the importance the users places on various economic, environmental and/or technology based criteria. Objective 6: 1) Major activities: We worked on five farms, and with technology teams/ providers in water/nutrient recycling services to understand the implementation and adoption of those technologies (particularly composting) and then promote them to other farmers. Expanded project website. Organized invited session at 2023 ASABE. 2) Data collected: technology adoption rates, implementation strategies, quantitative and qualitative data from farms and industry partners. 3) Results: We determined a mixing-vessel composting system can be utilized to effectively treat the slurry manure from a large-scale commercial pig farm, which had up to 24,000 head of finishing swine. While somewhat costly, it reduces the need for long-term liquid manure storage and eliminates the need for agitating and applying large amounts of deep-pit manure or lagoon effluent on the land. This can be especially useful for animal farms in our region that are landlocked and facing manure nutrient management challenges. 4) Key outcomes: Case study publications, posters, webinars, and conference presentations have been used as dissemination tools. Attendance at our events continues to grow, increasing the awareness and understanding of manure management treatment options in our reasons. ASABE meeting was well attended and gave us access to new experts who can help test DST.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Asaei, S. Nuttanit Pramounmat, and Julie N. Renner. 2022. The Investigation of the Transition Temperature of Charged and Uncharged Elastin-like Polypeptides in Water and Salt Solutions By QCM-D. Presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ Nov 13-18.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Della Lunga, D. 2022 Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming potential associated with furrow-irrigated rice. Poster presentation at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, Nov 6-9.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Hostert, J. Maura Sepesy, Christine E. Duval, and Julie N. Renner. 2022. Rare earth element recovery is only a click away: recovering lanthanides with peptide-functionalized polyvinylidene (PVDF) membranes. Presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. Nov 13-18.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jacob D. Hostert, Quincy Spitzer, Paola Giammattei, and Julie N. Renner. 2023. From screening to a scalable system: investigating the impact of a peptide additive on struvite formation and morphology. Presented at the , Gordon Research Conference on Peptide Materials in Galveston, TX Jan 15-20
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Scott, E.E., V.S. Varma, J. Hickman, R. Stowell, T. Lim, L. Greenlee, G. Thoma, G. Miito, and J. Popp. 2023. Integrating Economic Analysis into a Decision Support Tool for Improved Sustainability of Manure Management Systems. Presentation at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Oklahoma City, OK, February.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Scott, E.E., V.S. Varma, J. Hickman, R. Stowell, T. Lim, L. Greenlee, G. Thoma, G. Miito, and J. Popp. 2023. Evaluating Economic and Environmental Impacts of Dairy Manure Management Systems. Presentation at the Western Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. July.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Simms, Tatum. 2023. Understanding the Effects of Electrochemically Precipitated Struvite on Leachate Phosphorus, Nitrate, and Ammonium via a Column-leaching Study. Presentation at the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) National Conference, Jacksonville, FL, March 23-26.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Vempalli, S.V. , J. Hickman, R. Stowell, T. Lim, L. Greenlee, G. Thoma, and J. Popp 2023. Application of a decision-support tool for selecting manure treatment technology to improve nutrient management. Presented at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Annual International Meeting, Omaha, NE. July 9-12
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Vempalli, S.V. J. Hickman, R. Stowell, T. Lim, L. Greenlee, G. Thoma, and J. Popp 2023. Economic and environmental outcomes from a manure management decision support tool. To be presented at the North American Manure Expo, August 9-10, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Stowell, R. and T.T. Lim. 2023. Regional Nutrient Balances and Manure Use in Cropping Systems. Invited Speaker Session at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Annual International Meeting, Omaha, NE. July 9-12
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Wu, I., M.-C. Kuo, K. Dunn, J. Creel, A. Johnson, K. Beiler, and A.M. Herring. 2023. Using a Tunable Triblock Cationic Polymer to Unravel Performance and Durability Effects in Anion Exchange Membrane Based Electrolysis. Presented at the 243rd Electrochemical Society Meeting, Boston, MA, May
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Zonggang L. G. Miito, and T.T. Limm. 2022 .Mixing-Vessel Composting System at a Large Swine Finishing Farm. Poster presented at the CAFNR Research Symposium, Columbia, MO, October 12-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Zonggang Li, Gilbert Miito, and Teng Teeh Lim . 2023. Field Experience of Dairy Lagoon Depth Measurement. Poster presented a the 2023 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Annual International Meeting, Omaha, NE. July 9-12.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Zonggang L. G. Miito, and T.T. Limm. 2022 .Mixing-Vessel Composting System at a Large Swine Finishing Farm. University of Missouri Extension. G03402.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hostert, J. Maura R. Sepesy, Christine E. Duval, Julie N. Renner Clickable polymer scaffolds enable Ce recovery with peptide ligands Soft Matter, 2023,19, 2823-2831. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2SM01664H
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Pramounmat, N. Sogol Asaei, Jacob D. Hostert, Kathleen Young, Horst A. von Recum, Julie N. Renner . 2022. Grafting of short elastin-like peptides using an electric field. Sci Rep 12, 18682 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21672-9
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wu,I. Jacob D. Hostert, Geeta Verma, Mei-Chen Kuo, Julie N. Renner, and Andrew M. Herring. 2022. Electrochemical Struvite Precipitation Enhanced by an Amelogenin Peptide for Nutrient Recovery ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2022, 10, 43, 1432214329. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c04691
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hostert, J. Quincy Spitzer, Paola Giammattei, Julie N. Renner. Scalable production of peptides for enhanced struvite formation via expression on the surface of genetically engineered microbes. Under review with ACS Materials Au.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Renner, J. N. The Emerging Role of Peptides in Resource Recovery. 2022. Invited presentation at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC. September.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Renner, J. N. Engineering Elastin-like Peptides to Control Solid Surface Properties: A Biomaterials Research Platform and Education Tool. 2022. Invited presentation at the Department of Chemical and Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, November.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Renner, J. N. Engineering Elastin-like Peptides to Control Solid Surface Properties: A Biomaterials Research Platform and Education Tool. 2023. Invited presentation at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, January .
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Vempalli, S.V. and E. Scott. 2023. Swine Manure Management  Decision Support Tool Demo. On Line. March 23.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hostert. J.D. 2023. Peptides for Nutrient and Rare Earth Recovery. Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Chemical Engineering.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Wu, I. 2023. Electrochemical Water Technologies For Resource Recovery Using Polymer Electrolytes. Doctor of Philosophy. Colorado School of Mines.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Continual improvement on project website https://lpelc.org/manure-project-home/
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Akbari, A. and Lauren F. Greenlee. 2022. Electrochemical K-struvite precipitation: Investigating the role pH and water chemistry. Presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ Nov 13-18.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Akbari, A. Bruce E. Logan, and Lauren F. Greenlee. 2023. Selective Separation Between Ammonium and Potassium in a Membrane-Separated Magnesium-Based Electrochemical Process, presented at 243rd ECS Meeting in Boston, MA, May 28-June 2.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Akbari,A. Lauren F. Greenlee, Bruce E. Logan. 2023. The role of pH and competing ions on electrochemical potassium recovery from agricultural wastewater. Presented at ECMSS 2023, State College, PA.April 14-15


Progress 08/01/21 to 07/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Scientific Audiences The target audiences for project activities focused on the development of electrochemical treatment technology for nutrient management and water resource management include engineering researchers; researchers, and practitioners in the agricultural community focused on water resource quality, nutrient management, nutrient recycling, and recycled fertilizers; students in engineering and agriculture programs; researchers focused on adapting and developing electrochemical technology for water and nutrient management; scientific community interested in participating in water and peptide research and people in the commercialization space interested in developing new technologies for applications in agricultural nutrient management and water treatment. Stakeholder Audiences: During this reporting period, our target audiences included dairy and swine producers successfully operating on-farm wastewater and nutrient reuse technologies or systems, manure management systemserviceproviders, livestocktechnology vendors, and livestock system consultants. The objective was to work collaboratively with all stakeholders in the livestock manure management chain. We have also communicated with Extension personnel, farmers, and consultants to collect inputs and suggestions for the Decision Support Tool. Our team also organized prominent events - e.g., at Waste to Worth conferences, North American Manure Expos, and regional workshops - highlighting the decisionsupport tool and related technologies, as well as other project output. During this reporting period, we continued developing relationships with academic researchers and extension specialists to gain insights into the current state of manure management systems (MMS) and future directions. We presented to these groups at national conferences and conducted demonstrations of the tool with these groups who provided valuable feedback about how the tool works and interfaces with the user. We established new partnerships with industry technology providers and conducted surveys with them to gain valuable economic information related to MMS processes which we will evaluate in the decision support tool. These communications and data collection efforts are integral to the development of the decision support tool. Changes/Problems:Objective 1: None Objective 2: There have been no problems or issues encountered to date that would require any significant change in the initially planned approach to address Objective 2 and the associated tasks. A shed fire caused us to lose all of our original stored, air-dried soil from Nebraska and Missouri, but most of the planned research activities for this project had already been conducted. We have already collected more new soil from the same spots in Missouri to use with Arkansas soils and have already put that new Missouri soil to use in new studies, but we will not replace the original Nebraska soils with any newly collected soil. Objective 5: Some challenges were faced while building the Manure tool is the coding development using programming (python) language, but we planned to develop the tool in excel work which simplifies the functionality of the user selection and manure processing simulations. No problems or issues were encountered in developing the tool on the excel platform and functionality. We modified the initial approach of the heuristic-based decision algorithm by user prioritization with a 1- to 10-point scale option (1 being less important and 10 being more important). We have listed slider options for 14 sub-criteria variables under the three main criteria - economic (costs/benefits), environmental, and technology. Moving the sliders toward left or right will provide the real-time priority selected and can be reflected on the pie chart, which helps in the tool output ranking order and decision process. Objective 6: Some wastewater/manure technologies require improvements and more data to show effectiveness. Some vendors have delayed our site visit request multiple times. For some field installations, we postponed case study publications and would follow up to see more site installations and data collection. Our 0.75-FTE staff Mr. Tim Canter decided to leave his position and was only working 0.25-FTE for about two months in this reporting period. We did not have any staff until January of 2022, after Dr. Gilbert Miito was hired. Part of the hiring delay was due to University being understaffed after the COVID pandemic. We have hired more help (Drs. Duong and Li) for the project. We plan to apply for a no-cost extension to meet this project's objectives. Covid-19 continued to limit direct outreach with producers and technology providers during the project year. However, we could engage stakeholders better than the previous year by combining in-person and virtual activities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Throughout the project, we presented our research and publications at several forums, including seminars and conferences. We also collaborated with conferences and professional technical committees to sponsor workshops about our project effort and decision support tool, and sponsor invited speaker sessions in international conferences for stakeholders. Please see details in Section 3, Products section. CWRU students have presented virtually at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting in fall of 2021. Additionally, the PI traveled to the 241st ECS Meeting in Vancouver Canada to deliver a presentation on the sensing applications of this work, as well as serve as Lead Organizer and chair of the session I08 - Energy Conversion Based on N, P, and Other Nutrients. Collaborators also presented work at the 241st ECS Meeting on peptide-functionalized electrodes for nitrate reduction. The four graduate students involved in Objective 2 have experienced training and development in the areas of i) laboratory, greenhouse, and field skills, ii) various soil and plant sampling techniques, iii) working independently and as a part of a team, iv) data acquisition and analyses, and v) scientific writing and presentation. The students have also participated in periodic project meetings and gained knowledge and development from the various classes they have taken. In addition, one undergraduate student assisted one graduate student with the greenhouse tub study to gain experience with greenhouse techniques and general research. In contrast, the graduate student has gained experience serving in a supervisory capacity. Ph.D. students Amir Akbari and Arash Emdadi participated monthly in project team meetings. During the team meetings, each student presented updates, results, data interpretation, and analysis and interacted with other students and faculty on the team. In addition, the students had the opportunity monthly to participate in collaboration breakout rooms during monthly team meetings, where small teams within the overall project worked on ongoing collaborative research projects within the overall research program of the team. Both Ph.D. students had the opportunity to attend and present at national conferences, including the Electrochemical Society and Waste to Worth. Varma, a postdoc involved in the project developing the Decision support tool, has gained experience in the areas i) Dairy & Swine housing system ii) manure handling methods iii) on-going & emerging treatment technologies and iv) conference presentation and journal publication. He also collaborated with experts in the sector to identify the best practices in developing the tool.He is also gaining experience in constructing an LCA model and developing the Decision support system by AHP. The graduate student, Erin Scott, gained valuable training and professional development in economic theory, livestock agriculture, manure management technologies, data collection, and model development. Additionally, she has developed relationships with industry stakeholders, including research and extension specialists and technology providers. She also made connections while attending and presenting at a national conference, gained experience in leading demonstrations of the tool with diverse stakeholders, and facilitated valuable discussion and feedback, which has been used to refine the tool's functionality and presentation.? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We conducted a demonstration activity during the 2022 Waste to Worth conference, showcasing the decision support tool to diverse stakeholders, including approximately 30 academic researchers, extension specialists, and other agricultural and manure management professionals. The Excel tool and guide were shared with attendees in advance. We demonstrated the tool with attendees and received valuable oral and written feedback that helped us improve the functioning and presentation of the decision support tool, and engage individuals for future participation. Results from the development of electrochemical technology and an analysis of the technoeconomics were disseminated through conference presentations at the Electrochemical Society and Waste to Worth. In addition, results were disseminated to the broader scientific community at Penn State through several invited seminars during the 2021-2022 academic year. We have prepared the modules representing different dairy and swine MMS. The manure treatment results were used to calculate the LCIA and costs. Datasets and preliminary results in the model have been regularly conveyed to other team members and collaborative experts. We produced an initial set of results and shared with a broader audience and established a productive benchmark in sustainability studies on manure waste management systems. The dissemination of results from the decision support tool and the team has primarily occurred via conference presentations, demo sessions, publications, and external review meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Greenlee Group: In the next reporting period, experimental research activities will focus on understanding the kinetics of K-struvite precipitation as a function of pH and water composition. In addition, electrochemical studies will be performed to evaluate whether an alternating current approach to magnesium anode operation would reduce electrode fouling and passivation and therefore reduce energy consumption during K-struvite precipitation. In addition, experimental research activities will continue to evaluate how peptide functionalization of electrocatalyst surfaces can be used to control the reaction pathway for nitrate reduction to ammonia. Experiments will include a detailed product analysis to evaluate nitrate reduction products and an overall mass balance of nitrogen-containing compounds. Renner Group: Over the next reporting period we hope to achieve the following goals: Finish publication on peptide-functionalized membranes for resource recovery Continue work to understand scale-up of peptide technology in bacterial hosts as a means of capturing nutrients and publish results Continue to understand surface-bound peptides for resource recovery on a fundamental level and publish the results (e.g. higher affinity peptides for the cerium-phosphate capture system) Demonstrate electrochemical reaction selectivity for desired agricultural nutrients using a tunable peptide platform in a collaborative effort Objective 2: During the next reporting period, we plan to complete statistical analyses of the column leaching experiment datasets for leachate water quality and soil profile results and prepare two separate dissertation chapters as journal manuscripts. We plan to complete statistical analyses of the data from the greenhouse potted-plant studies with wheat, corn and soybean using MO, NE, and AR soils for response to ECST and various other common, commercially available fertilizer-P sources and complete preparing a dissertation chapter as a journal manuscript. We plan to complete statistical analyses of the soil incubation study and complete preparing a dissertation chapter as a journal manuscript. We plan to complete statistical analyses of the greenhouse tub study with greenhouse gas emissions from flood-irrigated rice and prepare a dissertation chapter as a journal manuscript. We plan to complete statistical analyses of the rainfall-runoff study data and prepare an MS thesis chapter as a journal article. We plan to conduct and complete a greenhouse potted-plant study using electrochemically precipitated struvite from a real municipal wastewater source. We also plan to complete a greenhouse tub study with flood-irrigated rice, greenhouse gas emissions, and plant response to a real wastewater-derived electrochemically precipitated struvite. Objective 3: During the next reporting period, we plan to review and refine existing datasets and models used in the economic analyses and to verify information and model accuracy and functionality related to the dairy and swine manure management tools. We have a couple additional technologies for which we are currently soliciting vendor information, and these technologies and associated scenarios will be completed and added to the tools. We will continue to build out the economic analyses for the swine tool by building scenarios with existing information and collecting any additional information specific to swine manure management. We will plan to conduct additional demonstrations and continue to solicit important feedback from industry professionals and stakeholders. We plan to integrate the additional economic analyses for the remaining unit processes/ technologies into the decision support tool for dairy and swine. We also plan to refine the user input and output components related to the economic variables and analyses. Objective 4: We plan to develop the Swine module with different MMSs representing ongoing and emerging practices. We plan to complete the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) analysis of swine MMSs alternatives during the next reporting period. We also plan to complete the merging of LCIA and economic model results to input the swine decision support model. We plan to identify vendors that develop treatment technologies specific to swine farms and develop surveys for technical and economic data. Objective 5: We plan to conduct decision tool demo sessions about introducing the tool to stakeholders and seek input. We plan to complete sensitivity/statistical analyses of the data from the tool output. We plan to complete the survey and utilize the response from the producers and vendors to prioritize the user inputs for the tool simulation. We will continue to collaborate and collect data from industry partners, including vendors and research/extension specialists, and from literature and reports to update the tool database. We plan to complete the development of a "Decision Tool" for dairy and swine built upon an economic and life cycle assessment model using the Heuristic-based Decision Support System (DSS) to support the decision-making process. Objective 6: We plan to collaborate with more technology providers and farmers to document more innovative water/nutrient cycling systems. We also hope to complete all the extension publications currently in process. We intend to attend more commodity events, such as expos and conferences, to connect and/or collaborate with more progressive farmers. We hope better to understand the existing water/nutrient recycling systems to help improve the systems and encourage the adoption of practical management systems.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Electrochemical technology can be designed to be operated such that a potassium-rich phosphate precipitate, K-struvite, is produced, allowing recovery of potassium and phosphate in a solid-phase recycled fertilizer. New knowledge gained in peptide design impacts exposes new biomolecular tools for resource recovery and expands the utility of biomolecular materials. Modified hydrophilic: hydrophobic ratios can improve membrane-solvent interactions via modulating water sorption. Additionally, the block copolymer tunability developed in this study is versatile for various applications. Economic data collected have expanded the dataset used for cost estimating algorithms integrated into the decision support tool. Stakeholder feedback has improved the functionality and presentation of the tool. Outcome Insights into affinity peptides and a new peptide assembly technique enable designs for capture/release applications. Dissemination of new knowledge and technology supports approaches to managing nutrients in wastewater treatment. The utility of the new block copolymer is promising in other liquid water applications. The decision support tool comprises diverse manure management systems (MMS). We have 70 manure management alternatives (62 Dairy, 8 Swine). The tool tracks environmental footprints (lifecycle assessment) and economic factors. A heuristic model supports the decisions by integrating all the results. We contributed to extension seminars, conferences, webinars, and published extension and conference publications. We attended meetings to engage stakeholders to foster an understanding of manure and water recycling technologies and implementation opportunities. Obj. 1 1)Major activities A new technique using an electric field for peptide assembly on surfaces was studied, and an article is under review. The study on creating peptide-functionalized membrane for phosphate capture is being summarized for submission. Peptides were sent to be investigated for their impact on nitrate reduction in collaboration with Penn State. Experiments on electrochemically driven precipitation of magnesium potassium phosphate (K-struvite) evaluated the effect of pH on K-struvite composition, purity, kinetics and thermodynamics of K-struvite precipitation. A series of anion exchange membranes were synthesized in a range of hydrophilic: hydrophobic block ratios and fully characterized. A simple electrodialysis test station was set up to desalinate synthetic wastewater. 2)Data collected Electric field assembly experiments included gathering QCM-D data and modeling the kinetic adsorption profiles, analyzing the peptide layers via FTIR, AFM, and ellipsometry. 3)Results Judicious use of peptide design via charge/hydrophobicity, kinetic assembly control/understanding, and applied electric field can control the grafted morphology, which affects attractive surface-bound peptide properties. We can achieve desirable and predictable surface properties. K-struvite precipitation efficiency and purity are highly sensitive to the pH of the solution and chloride. Electrocatalyst surfaces functionalized with peptides control nitrate reduction; the presence of hydrophilic vs. hydrophobic and negatively vs. positively charged peptides changes the extent of nitrate reduction and the reaction pathway from nitrate to nitrogen gas or ammonia. The smallest hydrophilic: hydrophobic block investigated minimally swells without compromising ion solvation which seems to enhance desalination performance via increased ion migration. 4)Key outcomes understanding platinum affinity peptides and their potential use in electrochemical wastewater treatment applications a new technique for assembling peptides that control their configuration on solid surfaces and their properties; confirmation of K-struvite formation as a function of pH and chloride concentration demonstration that peptide functionalization of gold electrocatalyst surfaces can control nitrate reduction to ammonia. Demonstration of the tunability of our block copolymer for different properties by simple chemistry adjustment. Obj. 2 1)Major activities Greenhouse studies with flood- and furrow-irrigated rice evaluating greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions and fertilizer-P sources were completed, and soil and fertilizer-P source effects on runoff water quality based on a rainfall-runoff stimulation 2)Data collected Greenhouse studies: above- and belowground dry matter and plant tissue elemental concentrations and uptake and weekly measured CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes and season-long emissions flooded- and furrow-irrigated conditions: above- and belowground plant dry matter and tissue elemental concentrations and uptakes from rice grown in responses to various fertilizer-P sources. 3)Results & Outcomes Numerous rice plant properties (e.g., aboveground dry matter P, K, and Zn content and Zn uptake, belowground Zn content)differ among fertilizer-P sources, while others are unaffected by fertilizer-P source (i.e., aboveground dry matter and N, P, K, and Mg uptake, belowground dry matter) Obj. 3 Because the crop studies for this project were changed to the pot level, and a related project has studied the effectiveness of struvite in field studies, this effort is subsumed in the solicitation of technology providers and collection of the cost data associated with the technologies for the DST. Obj. 4 This objective is now fully integrated into the DST in objective 5. We have used the ecoinvent database to develop emissions estimates for farm activities which are incorporated directly in the DST. Obj. 5 1)Major activities We identified multiple vendors developing innovative manure treatment technologies. We developed the decision algorithm - modified Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)model (using a Heuristic approach)that assigns user priorities to each MMS alternative based on user goals. 2)Data collected We developed surveys to collect technical and economic data to integrate into the tool. We collaborated with the extension team to survey manure practices for onsite nutrient or water recovery. For the AHP ranking, we utilized surveys to evaluate the current range of MMS. 3)Results The LCIA and economic results of the MMS alternatives have been obtained and connected to the modified AHP ranking modules, but no statistical analyses have been conducted. 4)Key outcomes We are developing the DST as an excel workbook. Users can navigate and interact with various components; the default baseline can be modified by users. The modified AHP ranking of results are presented. 3)Results For the developed manure management scenarios, the model successfully links to the results of "mass and energy balance" from each treatment module based on user input options and provides environmental impact scores. 4)Key outcomes Global warming was higher for the traditional MMS compared to anaerobic digestion and fibrous solids removal before storage. Machinery, motors, and land application activities are areas consuming high energy and labor hours. Obj. 6 1)Major activities we identified six farms (three swine and three dairies) using innovative technologies for on-site nutrient or wastewater recovery and visited them several times, studying the MMS, and interviewing vendors and users. We collected samples for laboratory testing. 2)Data collected Survey data on MMS use/effectiveness and samples for detailed characterization. 3)Results We confirmed that many stakeholders are knowledgeable of various water/nutrient recycling systems, including operation and maintenance. This knowledge is not well documented and thus not readily available. it is critical that we include this information in publications to support farmers decision making. 4)Key outcomes We have documented and captured many aspects of successful water/nutrient recycling technologies in our publications. This should improve the adoption. We have raised awareness among stakeholders through meetings and conferences.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: T. Simms and K.R. Brye Electrochemically precipitated struvite effects on soil pH and phosphorus behavior in a plant-less moist-soil incubation experiment presented at the 2021 international meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, 1-10 November, Salt Lake City, UT.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: T. Simms and K.R. Brye Understanding the Effects of Electrochemically Precipitated Struvite on Leachate Phosphorus, Nitrate, and Ammonium via a Column-leaching Study presented at the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) 36 National Conference, 23-26 March, 2022, Jacksonville, FL
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: K. Brye, L. Greenlee (presenter), N. Omidire, T. Simms, D. Della Lunga, R. Anderson, S. Ylagan, M. Morrison, and C. Arel Agronomic Response to Struvite as an Alternative Fertilizer-phosphorus Source presented at the Manure Management & Nutrient Reuse session of the Waste to Worth Conference, 18-22 April, 2022, Oregon, OH
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nuttanit Pramounmat, Katherine Yan, Jadon Wolf and Julie N Renner "Platinum-binding peptides: understanding of selective binding and multifunctionality" Multifunctional Materials, Volume 5, Number 1
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Controlling Surface-Immobilized Elastin-like Peptides for Electrochemical Sensing Applications, 241st ECS Meeting in Vancouver Canada
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nitrate Reduction By Hydrophobic, Negatively, and Positively Charged Peptide-Coated Au Electrode, 241st ECS Meeting in Vancouver Canada
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Phosphate Recovery By a Surface-Immobilized Cerium Affinity Peptide, AIChE Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Self-Assembly and Rearrangement of a Polyproline II Helix Peptide on Gold, AIChE Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Engineering Peptides to Control Solid Surface Properties: Applications in Biomaterials and Beyond, 3M Corporation Technical Community (invited)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Protein Engineering for Electrochemical Systems, Gordon Research Conference: Metallocofactors, New Port, RI. (invited)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Engineering Polypeptides for Controlled Assembly of Ionomer Thin Films: Expanding Beyond Typical Assembly Tools, 241st ECS Meeting in Vancouver Canada (invited)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ramos Tanchez, J.C., R. Stowell, A.M. Schmidt, M. Zelt, and L. Witt-Swanson. 2022. Manure treatment technology adoption by swine and dairy producers: Survey feedback. Proceedings of the 2022 Waste-to-Worth Conference, Oregon, OH, April 18-22, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Vempalli, S. V., E. Scott, J. A. Hickman, T. Canter, R. Stowell, T. Lim, L. Greenlee, J. Popp, and G. Thoma. 2022. A decision-support tool for the design and evaluation of manure management and nutrient reuse in dairy and swine farm facilities. Proceedings of the 2022 Waste-to-Worth Conference, Oregon, OH, April 18-22, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Scott, E., S. V. Vempalli, J. A. Hickman, J. Popp, R. Stowell, T. Lim, G. Thoma, and L. Greenlee. 2022. Evaluating costs and benefits of manure management systems for a decision-support tool. Proceedings of the 2022 Waste-to-Worth Conference, Oregon, OH, April 18-22, 2022.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: J.C.R. Tanchez. May 2022. Assessment of Manure Treatment Technology Adoption and Feedlot Runoff Monitoring Opportunities. MS thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lauren Greenlee, Kristofor Brye, Jennie Popp, Greg Thoma, Andrew Herring, Julie Renner, Karla Morrissey, Ruhi Sultana, Laszlo Kekedy-Nagy, Ryder Anderson, Niyi Omidire, Zihang Su, Ali Teymouri, Leah English "Electrochemical Recovery of Ammonium and Phosphate from Wastewater" Invited seminar, November 1, 2021
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ivy Wu, Ruhi Sultana, Amir Akbari, Laszlo Kekedy-Nagy, Andrew Herring, Lauren Greenlee Advances in Nutrient Recovery Technology: Approaches to Controlling Recovered Product Chemistry presented at: Waste to Worth conference April 21, 2022
  • Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wastewater Management System for Dairy Farms: Vermifiltration System
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Amir Akbari, Lauren Greenlee Electrochemical K-struvite formation for simultaneous phosphorus and potassium recovery from hog and dairy manures presented at Waste to Worth conference April 20, 2022
  • Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Swine Farm Manure Management Using Windrow Composting System
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Canter, T., Lim, T.-T., and J. A. Zulovich. 2021. Field Experience of Removing and Land Application of Dairy Lagoon Solids International Symposium on Animal Environment and Welfare. Rongchang, Chongqing, China
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Tim Canter Management of Manure Nutrients for Reuse -opportunities North American Manure Expo, Manure Mondays Online Webinar Series, November 8, 2021
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Sky-High Fertilizer Prices: Is This the Year to Hire a Dredge for Lagoon Sludge? Economics Under Current/Forecast Prices. 2022 Missouri Pork Expo, Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake of the Ozarks, OH February 8-9, 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Arash Emdadi, Julie Renner, Lauren F. Greenlee Nitrate reduction by hydrophobic, negatively, and positively charged peptide-coated Au electrode presented at Waste to Worth conference April 20, 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Arash Emdadi, Julie Renner, Lauren F. Greenlee Nitrate reduction by hydrophobic, negatively, and positively charged peptide-coated Au electrode presented at Electrochemical Society bi-annual conference May 29  June 2, 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lauren Greenlee, Kristofor Brye, Jennie Popp, Greg Thoma, Andrew Herring, Julie Renner, Karla Morrissey, Ruhi Sultana, Laszlo Kekedy-Nagy, Ryder Anderson, Niyi Omidire, Zihang Su, Ali Teymouri, Leah English Electrochemical Recovery of Ammonium and Phosphate from Municipal Wastewater Sources: Kinetics and Water Chemistry  presented at Electrochemical Society bi-annual conference May 29  June 2
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lauren Greenlee, Kristofor Brye, Jennie Popp, Greg Thoma, Andrew Herring, Julie Renner, Karla Morrissey, Ruhi Sultana, Laszlo Kekedy-Nagy, Ryder Anderson, Niyi Omidire, Zihang Su, Ali Teymouri, Leah English Electrochemical Recovery of Ammonium and Phosphate from Wastewater Penn State Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department Seminar November 1, 2021
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lagoon Solids Removal and Solid Separation System Improvement at a Dairy Farm https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g3401
  • Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Application of agitated slurry stores for efficient nutrient utilization on swine farms
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Experience of Removing and Land Application of Lagoon Solids Waste to Worth 2022, Maumee Bay Lodge, Oregon, OH April 18-22, 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Pull-Plug Sedimentation Basin for Dairy Manure Management Waste to Worth 2022, Maumee Bay Lodge, Oregon, OH April 18-22, 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Economic Considerations for the Development of A Decision Support Tool for Manure Management Systems 2022 North American Manure Expo, Chambersburg, PA, July 13-14, 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: NRES-Regional Manure Nutrient Balance, Guest Speaker Session, 2022 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineer Annual International Meeting, Houston, TX, July 17-20, 2022 Tuesday, July 19, 9:30 AM


Progress 08/01/20 to 07/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience for this reporting period consisted of dairy and swine producers who are successfully operating technologies or systems for on-farm water and/or nutrient reuse, as well as both technical providers that either develop and sell the technologies used by producers and consultants that work with producers to select, construct, and operate technologies. Target audiences also include students, research scholars, scientists directly collaborating on this project through regular project meetings/calls. In addition, other students, scientists, and stakeholders were targeted via presentations at national conferences. Meetings/Email conversations were conducted/exchanged with stakeholders (Vendors, Academic researchers & other experts) to share our objectives and understand the livestock farms' real-time practices. The stakeholders include NEWTRIENT, Trident Process, Inc., FAN Separator - BAUER group, & other University Extension specialists, etc. In addition, target audiences included other PIs and project managers from other NIFA SAS and AFRI projects. PI Greenlee attended and participated in monthly project leadership calls with other NIFA SAS/AFRI project managers and PIs. During these calls, the PIs and PMs discuss a range of topics from data management to format of annual reviews. During this reporting period, we continued developing relationships with academic researchers and extension specialists to gain insights into the current state of manure management systems (MMS) and future directions. We established partnerships with industry technology providers and conducted surveys with them to gain valuable economic information related to MMS processes which we will evaluate in the decision support tool. We met on-farm with two dairy farmers - one in Arkansas and one in Missouri, to tour their facility and discuss their manure management challenges and solutions. Additionally, we reached other students and researchers in the field during an oral presentation at a national conference. These communications and data collection efforts are integral to the development of the decision support tool. Changes/Problems:There have been no problems or issues encountered to date that would require any major change in the initial planned approach to address Objective 2 and the associated tasks. However, a shed fire caused us to lose our stored, air-dried soil from Nebraska and Missouri, but most of the planned research activities for this project had been conducted already. We will likely collect more soil from the same spots in Missouri to use with Arkansas soils in up-coming, complementary studies. The initial surveys were open-ended interviews that, while qualitative, failed to provide the investigators with data that could be analyzed using statistical methods. The new approach provides qualitative data with an opportunity to secondary follow up to collect qualitative data. We fell behind the objectives list for this reporting period due to communication and travel restrictions of the COVID pandemic. Many entities could not conduct non-essential communication, preventing collaboration and information gathering. Lockdowns and travel restrictions prevented on-site investigations. We have started a farm visit in May of 2021 and hope to slowly gain more access to farms and technical provider interviews. We plan to apply for a no-cost extension in order to meet all the objectives of this project. Some challenges faced during building the Manure tool is the coding development using programming (python) language, but we planned to develop the tool in the excel work which simplifies the functionality of the user selection and manure processing simulations. The economic analysis for objective 1 is on hold until the novel EC technology is more technically feasible. This also leads to a delay or change in the economic analysis related to objective 2 for this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Results have been disseminated as case study Extension publications; available in electronic format. We were unable to offer outreach programs and specialty workshops in the last year due to the COVID Pandemic. Multiple members of the team presented at the online Pacific and Mountain West Nutrient Cycling, Soil Health and Food Safety Virtual Conference and Water Reuse Conference (https://extension.wsu.edu/pmwncfsc). Teng Lim and Tim Canter attended the 2020 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers conference (https://www.asabe.org/Events/2020-Annual-International-Meeting). Students from Colorado School of Mines and Case Western Reserve University presented at the national conferences of the Electrochemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Both PI Greenlee and Co-PI Renner gave invited seminars on nutrient recovery and the project's associated activities. Students from the University of Arkansas presented at regional conferences. Under Objective 1, the graduate students have experienced training and development in polymer chemistry, polymer membrane synthesis, characterization tools for polymer materials, electrochemistry, electrode materials characterization, water chemistry, precipitation, and reactor design. An undergraduate student was also trained and presented at the Colorado School of Mines undergraduate research symposium. The two graduate students involved in Objective 2 have experienced training and development in the areas of i) laboratory, greenhouse, and field skills, ii) various soil and plant sampling techniques, iii) working independently and as a part of a team, iv) data acquisition and analyses, and v) scientific writing and presentation. Under Objective 3, the graduate student experienced valuable training and professional development in economic theory, livestock agriculture, data collection, model development, and hierarchical criteria decision making. Additionally, she has developed relationships with industry stakeholders, including research and extension specialists and technology providers. She also made connections while attending and presenting at a national conference. In Objectives 4 and 5, the students and postdoctoral researcher involved in the project developing the Decision support tool, has gained experience in the areas i) Dairy & Swine housing system ii) manure handling methods iii) on-going & emerging treatment technologies and iv) conference presentation and journal publication. The team has made collaboration with experts in the sector to identify the best practices in developing the tool. Personnel also gained experience in constructing an LCA model and developing the Decision support system. The entire team participated in a virtual annual review in August of 2020. The format for the annual review was dynamic, with activities planned by PI Greenlee to foster live discussion around how the team could better collaborate internally between research groups. We used a digital whiteboard program called Miro to actively brainstorm ideas, collate ideas, discuss, prioritize, and down-select specific collaborations to pursue for the year as a team. The annual review also allowed the team to rotate leadership roles during the meeting, with both students and faculty taking the lead during different activities. In addition, the annual review enabled different small groups to come together and discuss collaborations (e.g., students, faculty, topical area groups). Our external advisor, Dr. Matt Ruark, attended the annual review and provided the team with written feedback about the progress of the project and an assessment of team dynamics and function. Overall, the team benefited greatly from such a dynamic annual review, and we plan on having a similarly structured annual review in August 2021. PI Greenlee has participated and continues to participate in monthly SAS/CAP/AFRI project leadership meetings with leaders from around the country, and has gained knowledge and information about how other project leaders address management of teams, data, research directions, media communications, and virtual meeting challenges during the pandemic. All of the students have also participated and presented during monthly project meetings and have gained knowledge and development from the various classes they have taken already. In addition, one undergraduate student has assisted one graduate student with the greenhouse rice study to gain experience with greenhouse techniques and general research, while the graduate student has gained experience serving in a supervisory capacity. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Materials have been made available online via University of Missouri Extension. Awareness generation and some material distribution has been completed through social media. We plan to resume the outreach programs (workshops and invited speaker sessions starting 2022). For agronomy studies, two abstracts and posters were prepared and presented at annual conferences by graduate student Tatum Simms. Preliminary results have been conveyed to other project team members as part of periodic team meetings. An abstract will likely be prepared and submitted for presentation of preliminary result at the American Society of Agronomy annual meeting in November 2021. For the decision support tool, at the current stage, we have prepared the modules representing different dairy and swine MMS. The manure treatment results were used to calculate the LCIA and costs. Datasets and preliminary results in the model have been regularly conveyed to other team members and collaborative experts. We are yet to produce results shared to a broader audience and establish a productive benchmark in sustainability studies on manure waste management systems. However, we have presented the concepts and model drafts in the conferences; and published a review paper addressing the datasets utilized in our tool. For the economics studies, the graduate student attended a national conference where she presented preliminary methods and analysis for evaluating the costs and benefits of various MMSs with a focus on economies of scale. For the electrochemical technology development, dissemination of results on peptide technology from CWRU have largely occurred via publications and presentations at scientific meetings. Advancements in membrane technology and electrochemical precipitation of recycled fertilizer products were reported by the University of Arkansas and Colorado School of Mines at the Electrochemical Society, the Pacific and Mountain West Nutrient Cycling, Soil Health and Food Safety Virtual Conference, and through invited seminars. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: When the novel EC nutrient technology proves technically feasible, we will proceed to evaluate the economic feasibility. We plan to review the technology processes to identify important capital and operational costs, potential revenues, and labor and maintenance requirements. While this work is a good demonstration of tuning our polymer system, we plan to test the robustness of this membrane by treating different water compositions. The simple salt used in this study is not representative of real water systems, and we plan to mimic real waters by adding complicating ions as well as organic species. Further adaptation of the hydrophilic:hydrophobic block ratio to each of these different waters can provide a roadmap of how this polymer architecture affects performance. We have also partnered with an investor to scale up production of our triblock copolymer AEM. This partnership enables pilot testing of a desalination plant where demonstration of water treatment at the pilot scale can provide concrete examples of the utility of this membrane. Finally, fouling remains a major challenge in the field of membrane research, and investigations on the utility of heteropolyacids in membranes to resist fouling are underway. Electrochemical studies will continue to focus on understanding the water chemistry and electrochemistry conditions that favor recovery of K-struvite from a mixed wastewater source that contains ammonium, potassium, phosphate, and other anions and cations. We plan to conduct studies with both synthetic and natural wastewater sources, and will study the effects of pH, applied current/voltage, and the presence of a membrane-separated cell for ammonia capture. In addition, electrochemical studies will be performed on a batch 2-chamber cell, where the two chambers are separated by a selective membrane. In these studies, we will test the separation ability of the membrane for ammonia from complex water chemistry streams that contain potassium and phosphate. Electrochemical studies will also be performed using alternating current and two magnesium electrodes instead of one magnesium electrode to evaluate whether alternating current mode can reduce electrode fouling. For peptide engineering, over the next reporting period we hope to achieve the following goals: Demonstrate bio-enabled phosphate and or competing ion separation using, peptide-functionalized membranes in simulated and/or real wastewater Demonstrate the capability to selectively sense precipitated struvite and/or phosphate ions Demonstrate electrochemical reaction selectivity for desired agricultural nutrients using a tunable peptide platform in a collaborative effort Objective 2: During the next reporting period, we plan to complete statistical analyses of the column leaching experiment dataset and prepare a dissertation chapter/journal manuscript. We plan to complete statistical analyses of the data from the greenhouse potted-plant studies with wheat, corn and soybean using MO, NE, and AR soils for response to ECST and various other common, commercially available fertilizer-P sources and begin drafting a dissertation chapter/journal manuscript. We plan to complete statistical analyses of the soil incubation study. We plan to repeat the greenhouse tub study of greenhouse gas emissions from flood-irrigated rice and complete the statistical analyses. Both graduate students will also likely present research results at one national and/or local research conference. In addition, we plan to bring on another graduate student (MS student) to conduct a rainfall-runoff study and a potted-plant study using electrochemically precipitated struvite from a real municipal wastewater source. Objective 3: We plan to complete the economic analyses for the remaining MMS technology modules. We will continue building our database of economic costs and parameters via communications with industry partners including vendors and research/extension specialists, and from literature and reports. Additionally, we plan to finalize and distribute a producer survey to identify the primary factors affecting the decision-making process for farmers and to collect economic information from farmers that will supplement other data sources. Objective 4: We plan to complete the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) analysis of dairy and swine MMS alternatives developed for the tool during the next reporting period. We also plan to complete the merging of LCIA and economic model results to input the decision support model. Further, we plan to complete the data analysis of dairy manure management alternatives, draft the manuscript, and submit to the journal. Objective 5: We plan to complete the development of "Decision Tool" built upon an economic and life cycle assessment model using the Heuristic-based Decision Support System (DSS) to support the decision-making process. We plan to complete the survey and utilize the response from the producers and vendors for prioritizing the user inputs for the tool simulation. We plan to integrate the economic analyses for the remaining unit processes/ technologies into the decision support tool. We also plan to construct the user input and output components related to the economic variables and analyses. Objective 6: We expect complete three additional primary surveys, secondary interviews, and site visits with a total of six case studies. Our goal is to have surveyed and interviewed six total technology providers during the reporting period. Two conference presentations, two video walkthroughs, and an educational video on technologies and/or best practices are also planned. We will continue populating the MU Extension web space and collaborate with the Nebraska Team on more permanent storage of materials. Outreach programs of workshops and invited speaker sessions, and potential technical tour of practical manure treatment technologies are being planned for the 2022 Expos and conferences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact: We aim to address the need in livestock agriculture to better manage and reuse both water and nutrient resources. We have developed and distributed informative materials on water and nutrient reuse/recycling technologies by focusing on local projects and virtual conference presentations. Economic data have been used to model costs and benefits of various manure management systems. A robust membrane was modified for improved selectivity by modification of polymer chemistry. Electrochemical technology was used to recover phosphate as K-struvite (magnesium potassium phosphate) and separate ammonium, allowing for separate recovery of P and N resources. New knowledge gained in rationally designed peptides contributes new biomolecular tools to the resource recovery community and expands the application areas of biomolecular materials. Outcome: The decision support tool is compiled of diverse manure management schemes with on-going & emerging treatment technologies. The users will have flexibility in selecting the multiple treatment options. This tool will enable improved decision-making ability for farms linked to cost, regional needs, and desired treatment outcomes. Our work has advanced understanding of polymer structure-property relationships so that membranes can be developed for nutrient separations and recovery. Advancements in peptide technology enable antifouling, increasing the yield of struvite, and enabling high-affinity phosphate adsorbents. Advances in electrode-based chemistry allow separation of phosphate from ammonia and produce nutrient products useful for farmers as fertilizer. In addition, electrochemical technology treats water and enables the emergence and growth of circular nutrient economies. Objective 1 1) Major activities: We demonstrated the tunability of our polymer anion exchange membrane. We studied how electrode selection can be used to control precipitation of K-struvite (MgKPO4) and separate ammonium. 2) Data collected: Preliminary economic information related to the EC process has been collected. Three different block ratios of our PCMS-PE-PCMS AEMs were synthesized. K-struvite was characterized for phase and mass recovery. 3) Summary of results: The small block AEM had the greatest permselectivity and subsequent desalination performance across a range of salt concentrations. K-struvite was recovered at pH values above 9.0 but results showed little precipitation at lower pHs. Peptide models were fit to data typically via non-linear regression. 4) Key outcomes: We identified important economic variables that will be used to conduct the techno-economic feasibility study. The ease of altering membrane permselectivity opens doors to a wide range of applications. Successful K-struvite precipitation means that we have a route to control N:P ratios in recycled fertilizer. For peptides, we realized a deeper understanding of peptide assembly for antifouling, a new high throughput platform to study struvite formation, and a new bio-enabled absorbent for phosphate. Objective 2 1) Major activities: Three greenhouse, plant-response studies, were conducted. A 6-month, plant-less, laboratory soil incubation study was conducted. A greenhouse tub study with flood-irrigated rice was conducted to evaluate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 2) Data collected: For the potted-plant studies, the data collected included above- and belowground dry matter and plant tissue elemental concentrations and uptake, and final soil analyses. For the soil incubation study, the data collected included soil analyses at 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 4-, and 6-month sampling times. For the greenhouse gas emissions study, the data collected included CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes and emissions and above- and belowground plant dry matter and tissue elemental concentrations and uptake. 3) Summary of results: For the soil incubation study, preliminary results show that many elemental soil concentrations, namely P, and soil pH differed among soil-fertilizer combinations over time. For the greenhouse gas emissions study, CO2 fluxes were unaffected by fertilizer-P source, but differed over time, while both CH4 and N2O fluxes differed among fertilizer-P treatments over time. 4) Key outcomes: Regardless of soil, ECST behaves similarly to other fertilizer-P sources. Generally lower CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes from ECST than from the other fertilizer-P sources and numerically lower CO2 and N2O season-long emissions from ECST than from the other fertilizer-P sources, while CH4 emissions from ECST were numerically lower from another struvite material. Objective 3 1) Major activities: Economic data were collected, organized, and evaluated, resulting in cost equation and model development for technologies and processes relevant to dairy and swine manure management. 2) Data collected: The data collected through the major activities has resulted in a large database of economic parameters, models, and tables of information which are integrated into the decision support tool. 3) Summary of results: The primary economic indicators to be used in the decision support tool include 1) annualized capital cost; 2) annual operating costs; 3) annual fertilizer value of manure product; 4) annual cost savings (i.e. from bedding/water reuse); 5) annual revenues; and 6) annual net costs of the MMS. 4) Key outcomes: The economic analyses for each MMS scenario are adaptable to user input information to evaluate user constraints or on-farm goals and economies of scale. These analysis have been integrated into the decision support tool. Objective 4 1) Major activities: Process based manure treatment technologies were developed for dairy and swine farms on an excel platform with economics, mass and energy balance components. 2) Data collected: Life cycle inventory models were prepared for over 20 manure management scenarios. 3) Summary of results: The model successfully links to the results of "mass and energy balance" and economics from each treatment module based on user input options and provide environmental impact scores. 4) Key outcomes: Global warming potential was higher for the traditional manure storage system compared to anaerobic digestion and fibrous solids removal before manure storage. Reuse of water and bedding materials reduces storage design considerations. Objective 5 1) Major activities: We have developed the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model (which uses Heuristic-based approach), that assigns user priorities on each MMS alternative by identifying the importance of the criteria or user goals. 2) Data collected: For AHP ranking we are developing surveys to evaluate the current range of manure management systems used on farms. 3) Summary of results: The LCIA and economic results of the individual MMS alternatives have been obtained and connected to the AHP ranking modules, but no statistical analyses have been conducted. 4) Key outcomes: We are developing the "decision tool" on an excel workbook where users can navigate and select the different components of the MMS. Objective 6 1) Major activities: We have identified 9 of 10 farms (4 swine, 5 dairy) that utilized innovative technology for onsite nutrient or water recovery. We have identified 8 of 8 to 10 technology teams/providers who provide water/nutrient recycling services and/or equipment. We revised vendor and producer surveys. We have a project web space in the MU Extension domain. The team is collaborating with multiple groups to plan the 2022 Waste to Worth Conference and offer outreach programs in the 2022 Manure Expo. 2) Data collected: Responses to a 14-page survey. Photographic and video documentation of technology. Laboratory analysis on samples collected while completing on-site investigation of technologies. 3) Summary of results: N/A. 4) Key outcomes: We published three case studies. "Consideration of a Pull-Plug Sedimentation Basin for Dairy Manure Management" received a 2021 Educational Aids Blue Ribbon from ASABE.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Z. Su, C. Kim, J.N. Renner, Quantification of the effects of hydrophobicity and mass loading on the effective coverage of surface-immobilized elastin-like peptides, Biochemical Engineering Journal 168 (2021) 107933. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2021.107933.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: J.D. Hostert, O. Kamlet, Z. Su, N.S. Kane, J.N. Renner, Exploring the effect of a peptide additive on struvite formation and morphology: a high-throughput method, RSC Advances 10(64) (2020) 39328-39337. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA06637K.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Z. Su, J.D. Hostert, J.N. Renner, Phosphate Recovery by a Surface-Immobilized Cerium Affinity Peptide, ACS ES&T Water 1(1) (2021) 58-67. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.0c00001.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: J. Hostert, Z. Su, J.N. Renner, "Quantification of Effects of Hydrophobicity and Mass Loading on the Effective Coverage of Surface-Immobilized ELPs for Electrochemical Applications", Electrochemical Society national meeting, May 30 - June 1, 2021.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Z. Su, J. Hostert, J.N. Renner, "Investigation of the Antifouling Properties of Polyproline Self-Assembled Monolayers", American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting, November 16-20, 2020.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: J.N. Renner, "The Emerging Role of Peptides in Resource Recovery", Georgia Tech University, Mellichamp Lectureship, February 2021.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lauren Greenlee, Kris Brye, Jennie Popp, Greg Thoma, Andrew Herring, Julie Renner, Karla Morrissey, Ruhi Sultana, Laszlo Kekedy-Nagy, Ryder Anderson, Niyi Omidire, Zihang Su, Ali Teymouri, Leah English, "Electrochemical Recovery of Ammonium and Phosphate from Wastewater", Invited Seminar, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, February, 2021.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: T. Canter, T. Lim, J. Zulovich, R. Stowell, T. Chockley. "Pull-Plug Sedimentation Basin (PPSB) for Solids and Nutrient Removal at Small- and Medium-Scale Flushing Dairies", Pacific and Mountain West Nutrient Cycling, Soil Health, and Food Safety Virtual Conference, Oct. 27-29,2020. https://extension.wsu.edu/pmwncfsc
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: T. Canter, T.T. Lim, T. Chockley. (2020) Considerations of Pull-Plug Sedimentation Basin for Dairy Manure Management. University of Missouri Extension. https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/eq302
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: T. Canter, T.T. Lim, J. Zulovich. Nutrient Recovery System for Dairy Farms: Dissolved Air Flotation and Multi-Disk Press. University of Missouri Extension. https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/eq303
  • Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: T. Canter, T.T. Lim. Lagoon Solids Management and Installation of a Liquid/Solids Separation System at a Central Missouri Dairy Farm. University of Missouri Extension.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: V.S. Varma, E. Scott, J. Hickman, T. Canter, J. Popp, R. Stowell, T. Lim, L. Greenlee, G. Thoma. "Decision support system for Dairy and Swine manure management system", Pacific and Mountain West Nutrient Cycling, Soil Health, and Food Safety Virtual Conference, Oct. 27-29,2020. https://extension.wsu.edu/pmwncfsc
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: E. Scott, S.V. Varma, T. Canter, J. Popp, R. Stowell, T. Lim, L. Greenlee. "Calculating Costs and Benefits of Manure Management Systems for a Decision Support Tool", Pacific and Mountain West Nutrient Cycling, Soil Health, and Food Safety Virtual Conference, Oct. 27-29,2020. https://extension.wsu.edu/pmwncfsc
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Z. Anari, L. Kekedy-Nagy, K. Morrissey, R. Daneshpour, M. Abolhassani, J. Moore, G. Thoma, L. Greenlee. "Multi-stage Membrane System for Nutrient Recovery as Fertilizer", Pacific and Mountain West Nutrient Cycling, Soil Health, and Food Safety Virtual Conference, Oct. 27-29,2020. https://extension.wsu.edu/pmwncfsc
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: 2000194Modeling the Impact of Winter Cover Crop on Corn-Soybean and Soil Nitrogen Dynamics Using DSSAT ModelRishabh Gupta, Rabin Bhattarai, Jonathan W. Coppess, Richard T. Roth, Shalamar D. ArmstrongRishabh Gupta, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign2000326Glasshouse Study of the Value of Biosolids-Derived Organomineral Fertilizers for Perennial Ryegrass GrowthDiogenes L. Antille, Bernadette K. McCabe, Serhiy Marchuk, Jochen Eberhard, Craig P. BaillieDiogenes L. Antille, CSIRO Agriculture and Food2000377Physical and Hydraulic Soil Properties under Soil Health PracticesJohn McMaine, Ajoy Kumar SahaAjoy Kumar Saha, South Dakota State University2000385Scale Effect on the Hydraulic and Treatment Performance of Free Surface Flow Constructed WetlandsChangqiang Guo, Yuanlai Cui, Di Wan, Fangping LiuChangqiang Guo, Zhejiang-University2000416Monitoring Green Infrastructure at Trailwoods Neighborhood in Norman, OklahomaJason Vogel, Grant Graves, Emily RhodesEmily Rhodes, University of Oklahoma2000419Investigation of Soil Wetting Pattern in Drip Irrigation Using LoraWAN TechnologyLong He, Jin Tong, Xiaohu JiangXiaohu Jiang, Pennsylvania State University2000421Impacts of Climate Change on Bioenergy Crops Production in the Republican River BasinMohammad Anar, Haochi Zheng, Zhulu LinZhulu Lin, North Dakota State University2000422Water and Nutrient Recycling: A Decision Tool and Best Practices EvaluationAndrew Herring, Tim, Canter, Julie Renner, Sudharsan Varma Vempalli, Lauren Greenlee, Greg Thoma, Kristofor Brye, Jennie Popp, Rick Stowell, Amber Patterson, Joseph Zulovich, Teng Lim. "Water and Nutrient Recycling: A Decision Tool and Best Practices Evaluation", 2020 Annual International Meeting of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, July 13-15, 2020 (https://www.asabe.org/Events/2020-Annual-International-Meeting)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: T. Simms, K.R. Brye. "Column Leaching Study to Determine Electrochemically Precipitated Struvite Effects on Leachate P and Mg", 2020, International meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: T. Simms, K.R. Brye. "Electrochemically Precipitated Struvite Effects on Soil Profile Phosphorus Distribution Following Multiple Leachings", Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) 35 National Virtual Conference, April 6-9, 2021.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: V.S. Varma, R. Parajuli, E. Scott, T. Canter, T.T. Lim, J. Popp, G. Thoma, Dairy and swine manure management  Challenges and perspectives for sustainable treatment technology, Science of The Total Environment 778 (2021) 146319. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146319.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: J.D. Hostert, C.N. Loney, N. Pramounmat, K. Yan, Z. Su, J.N. Renner, Self-Assembly and Rearrangement of a Polyproline II Helix Peptide on Gold, Langmuir 37(20) (2021) 6115-6122. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03583.


Progress 08/01/19 to 07/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:One of our target audiences this past year was peer graduate students. University of Arkansas graduate student, Amir Akbari, participated in a department wide 3MT (3-minute thesis) competition and won the third prize award during the Fall 2019 semester. This contest aims to encourage graduate students to expand their communication skills by presenting the project to a public audience. PI Greenlee (U. Arkansas) gave several presentations to national and international technical audiences and stakeholders, including attendees at the yearly conference held by the Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture and Hawaii Farm Bureau, attendees of a workshop held at Case Western Reserve University by the Great Lakes Energy Institute, attendees of a workshop held in Fayetteville, AR by the Arkansas Water Resources Center, and attendees of the Solar World Congress, held in Santiago, Chile. The workshop held at CWRU by the Great Lakes Energy Institute was also attended by co-PI Renner, and included an overall presentation of scientific findings and water technology opportunities to the Great Lakes Energy Institute and CWRU community to build a coalition of water experts in the Lake Erie area.Target audiences of the team's efforts also included other scientists and students directly collaborating on this project though regular project meetings/conference calls. The target audience reached during this reporting period include those in attendance at the 236th Electrochemical Society meeting, where a research summary was presented in the form of a poster. In addition, graduate student Ivy Wu (Colorado School of Mines) contacted graduate students at Colorado School of Mines in Civil Engineering working with municipal wastewater to use a sample of their group's municipal water in her studies on this project. This project also enabled a first-year undergraduate student at the Colorado School of Mines to gain experiences in the lab and mentored by a graduate student. This research project is the undergraduate's first exposure to research as the first in his family to attend college. He presented his efforts on this project at Mines' undergraduate research symposium this past spring. The target audiences included agricultural producers and consultants who will use the decision support tool; industry representatives who offer manure management equipment and services; and agricultural and environmental policy makers who can use the information provided in this tool to inform their decisions. During this past project year, we developed relationships with academic researchers and extension specialists to gain perspectives on current manure management activities on farm, learn about potential changes that farmers are likely to make in the future, and the factors that might drive those changes. We also developed partnerships with industry consultants to gain cost information and models associated with water treatment processes. In addition to reviewing literature and working with online data tools, we have reached out to these stakeholders for reference to data sources. These communications and data collection efforts will help in the development of the decision support tool. Meetings were conducted with the following stakeholders to share our objectives and to understand the real time practices in the livestock farms. The outputs from the stakeholders were taken into consideration while building the UARK Manure Tool. Regular project meetings and conference calls were conducted to share our efforts with other scientists and students directly collaborating on this project. 1. Mr. Mark Stoermann - Chief Operating Officer, NEWTRIENT. We discussed about his experience from California dairy farms. Highlights from the meeting enabled us to focus and reshape our input variables regarding manure generation, water utilization, collection methods and total waste volume generated. 2. Dr. Saqib Mukhtar - Associate Dean and Program Leader, Florida Cooperative Extension Service. We discussed via email to understand technical details of solid liquid separation and the major challenges in estimating real-time flow-weighted nutrient (NPK) and solids concentration loads. 3. Hydromantis ESS, Inc. - is a private consultant providing water and wastewater treatment simulation technology and modelling services. We established collaboration with access to their simulation software including GPS-x and CAPDET works. Additional target audiences for this reporting period included dairy and swine producers who are successfully operating technologies or systems for on-farm water and/or nutrient reuse, as well as technology providers and consultants who work with producers to select, construct, and operate manure treatment technologies. Changes/Problems:Electrochemical Technology: We are moving toward testing primarily in real wastewater samples to be able to understand how our systems perform in natural waters. We have learned that while we certainly learn a lot by working in simplified synthetic systems, our stakeholders and audiences want to see how the technology will perform with real waters. Experimental Membranes: Polymer membranes are incredibly versatile and can be developed with a nearly infinite number of combinations of block copolymers exhibiting different properties. While we have identified a family of membranes with ease of synthesis and scalability, adjustments are needed to tailor these membranes toward different applications. Our PCMS-PE-PCMS membranes show robust properties in fuel cell applications in the past but improved mechanical and selectivity properties are needed for liquid water applications. By adjusting degree of crystallinity and block ratios in these polymers, a high performing and practical anion exchange membrane can be developed for electrodialysis. Systematic investigation into these small adjustments are needed for an optimally performing membrane. Lifecycle Analysis: As with all lifecycle assessment projects, finding high quality relevant data for the systems understudied is challenging; however, this is not unexpected and does not represent a cause for change in our approach for methodology Extension Activities: Schedules have been set back by at least three (3) months due to COVID-19. First, travel for university personnel was restricted, making it impossible to conduct site visits or organize in-person workshops. Second, a project staff member leading website development went on extended leave to care for a dependent family member. Also, many technology providers and producers essentially went "dark", choosing to focus on critical services and functions, making it very difficult to develop relationships and gather information. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Overall, this team continues to hold monthly whole-team virtual meetings, where each graduate student and PI present their recent progress and findings. In addition, the students hold their own student-led regular meetings to discuss experiments, and the project team also holds separate small group discussions on electrochemistry and the decision support tool development. PI Greenlee is now part of a NIFA AFRI PI meeting that is held monthly, where PIs from across the US meet and discuss project management, challenges, ideas, etc. Recent topics have included how to manage teams effectively and hold/plan annual review meetings virtually. All project team members have had opportunities to attend conferences and workshops. At Case Western Reserve University, two students (Zihang Su and Jacob Hostert) are mentored under this project: Training activities: Dr. Renner meets with each student weekly to discuss research progress and help the student make future research plans. Professional Development Activities: Both students are scheduled to present at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting in fall of 2020. At Colorado School of Mines: A first-year undergraduate was involved in this project. He worked 4 hours a week and assisted the graduate student in running experiments. Specifically, he conducted pH measurements, assisted with making solutions, and learned experimental design while also reading selected literature relating to the project. The undergraduate student also presented his work at a university-wide undergraduate research symposium. For the graduate student, she served as a mentor to the undergraduate and attended the 236th ECS Meeting, providing professional development opportunities for her to network as well as present her own work. She continues to take graduate level classes such as Soft Matter, requirements for her PhD degree and offering more technological knowledge. She also based her application to the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship on this project and received Honorable Mention. Training activities at the University of Arkansas: Bi-weekly meetings were held between chemical engineering PhD student Amir Akbari and PI Greenlee. Also, the student started to get experience in the field of water chemistry and experimental electrochemistry. Professional development activities: The graduate student is set to participate in the PRiME 2020 conference and will have two abstracts to present. One further abstract was sent to Pacific Northwest and Mountain West Nutrient Cycling, Soil Health, and Food Safety Conference. This conference will be virtual and is scheduled for October 2020. The economics graduate student gained valuable training in economic theory and hierarchical criteria decision making. Through meetings and discussions with academic and extension specialists in dairy and swine production and economics, she gained foundational knowledge related to animal agriculture and economics, the reality of what is happening on farms, and the factors that farmers tend to use in their decision making. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some professional development opportunities were limited. Nonetheless, the knowledge and understanding gained over the last year will help her successfully complete her tasks in objectives 2, 3, and 5. Vempalli Sudharsan Varma (PhD, postdoctoral fellow) working in Decision support system for manure management has gained experience in developing manure tool in excel platform and calculating the mass balance of different treatment systems. He is also compiling the LCI and constructing an LCA model to calculate the potential environmental footprints. He is also gaining experience in developing the Decision support system by AHP. He is also supported by Ranjan Parajuli (PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the Univ. of Arkansas) to organize the preliminary data, formulating LCIs and prepare LCA models. Thus far, the one graduate student involved in Objective 2 has experienced training and development in the areas of i) laboratory, greenhouse, and field skills, ii) various soil and plant sampling techniques, iii) working independently and as a part of a team, iv) data acquisition and analyses, and v) scientific writing. The student has also participated in periodic project meetings and has gained knowledge and development from the various classes she has taken already. In addition, one undergraduate student has assisted the graduate student with the greenhouse potted-plant study to gain experience with laboratory and greenhouse techniques, while the graduate student has gained experience serving in a supervisory capacity. At the University of Nebraska Lincoln, one graduate student has been engaged in the project and is learning the nature of team research and development efforts. The extension team has collaborated closely with research team and industry, but the workshop with invited speakers planned this year had to be postponed so there was no profession training and development provided outside of the team. At the University of Missouri, Tim Canter, who has a background in municipal wastewater treatment and nutrient removal, continues to develop an understanding of the challenges faced by producers in the dairy and swine industries. The extension team has collaborated closely with research team and industry, but the workshop with invited speakers planned this year had to be postponed so there was no profession training and development effort. More workshops are being planned. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PI Greenlee had the opportunity to disseminate our project research goals and initial results to audiences and stakeholders involved in annual meetings of the Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture and the Hawaii Farm Bureau. The application of electrochemical technology for water and nutrient management is a key interest for the state because technology can be envisioned to be coupled to renewable energy sources such as solar panels, and the use of electrochemical technology decreases or eliminates the need for on-site chemicals use. PI Greenlee also discussed project goals and results with attendees and stakeholders at the Arkansas Water Resource Center and the Great Lakes Energy Institute meetings, which allowed the project team to reach new national audiences in both the southern states region around Arkansas, as well as the mid-west region around Ohio. Finally, the project team aimed this year to start disseminating project results to an international audience, where PI Greenlee presented results at the Solar World Energy conference in Santiago, Chile in November 2019 and was scheduled to present results at the International Water Association's Nutrient Removal and Recovery conference, which was supposed to be held in Espoo, Finland. The Nutrient Removal and Recovery conference was rescheduled from May 2020 to a 100% virtual conference to be held in September 2020. To complement these venues, Prof. Herring's group presented poster presentations at the Fall 2019 Electrochemical Society and at the Colorado School of Mines 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium (held virtually). Prof. Renner runs a summer program for female high school students called the Widening Opportunities for Women in Science (WOWS) Program. In this program, students gain lab experience under a graduate student mentor, learn more about the chemical engineering profession, and present their research projects at an end-of-summer celebration. Students in the Renner Laboratory become familiar with protein and peptide engineering concepts, and are sometimes included in group meetings where they are exposed to the results and impacts of this work. While the program was not able to take place in 2020, it is expected to take place summer of 2021. For the soil and crop studies of this project, preliminary results have been conveyed to other project team members as part of periodic team meetings. An abstract was submitted for presentation of column-leaching-study results at the American Society of Agronomy annual meeting in November 2020. We are developing a project website that organizes content around topics related to the research and overall goal and objectives of this project. Core content will be placed in Extension publications and made available to both Extension staff and the general public for training and educational purposes. Workshops will be developed to share results of vendor and producer surveys so that best practices, key challenges, and treatment technology options can begin to be disseminated. We expect to release the few case study and Extension publications within the next few months, and conduct specialty workshops. We will create a project website and begin content creation around topics related to the research and overall goals and objective of this project. Core content will be placed in Extension publications and made available to both Extension staff and the general public for training and educational purposes. Workshops will be developed to share results of vendor and producer surveys so that best practices, key challenges, and treatment technology options can begin to be disseminated. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: For the next reporting period, we aim to reach the following targets: A single-cell batch electrochemical system will be used to study the effect of N: P ratios in agricultural waste streams on struvite production. Demonstrate simultaneous phosphorus and potassium recovery from synthetic and real wastewaters using sacrificial magnesium anodes. Develop a model to study the impact of different parameters on ammonia recovery in an electrodialysis system. The results of this study will be compared with outcomes from experimental works at CSM. A membrane-separated flow-cell system will be designed and used to recover nutrients from model wastewaters. Demonstrate bio-enabled phosphate capture using a cerium-loaded, peptide-functionalized membrane and real wastewater from Lake Erie Demonstrate bio-enabled localized struvite precipitation via an immobilized peptide system Develop an electrochemical phosphate sensing platform using a peptide-based transducer Demonstrate electrochemical reaction selectivity for desired agricultural nutrients using a tunable peptide platform In addition, the newly developed PMB-PCMS-PMB membranes will be quaternized with methylpiperidine, and characterized for water uptake, sorption, and electrodialysis performance of various salts. These new membranes are expected to have similar or improved separation ability while improving upon the mechanical flaws of the previous membrane. Other membrane adjustments to investigate include alteration of PMB and PCMS block ratios and synthesis of PCMS-PMB-PCMS to increase degree of quaternization. These studies will elucidate the influence of crystallinity in polymer membranes and provide a roadmap for tailored membrane design. Electrodialysis performance of these membranes will be evaluated as a pre-treatment step for nutrient recovery. Separation ability of various ions including sodium, chloride, phosphorous, and ammonium will be evaluated at a range of applied potential and compared with commercial anion-exchange membranes. Objective 2: During the next reporting period we plan to complete the graduate student's literature review and PhD research proposal; complete statistical analyses of the column leaching experiment dataset and prepare a manuscript for a journal; complete the greenhouse potted-plant studies with wheat, corn and soybean using MO, NE, and AR soils for response to ECST and various other common, commercially available fertilizer-P sources, conduct the statistical analyses, and begin drafting a manuscript for a journal. The graduate student will also likely present research results at one national and one local conference. In addition, we plan to bring on a second graduate student for conduct greenhouse and field experiments quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from the ECST material and various other common, commercially available fertilizer-P sources. No problems or issues have been encountered yet. Objective 3: Plans for the next reporting period include: - Complete and refine the economic databases that will be used in the decision support tool - Complete and refine the economic inputs and outputs to be used in the decision support tool - Develop cost benefit analysis for the crop field trials (due to University closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, this activity was postponed from it's intended implementation for spring 2020) Objectives 4 and 5: • Our next step is to populate the environmental impacts by testing LCA models of individual MMS alternatives. • Developing the MMS alternatives for the Swine housing. • More focus on the decision support system by Multicriteria decision making methods (MCDM). • Building the algorithms in a modern software package to integrate the outputs from manure tool, LCA results along with the DSS to make the high priority decision among the MMS. Objective 6: Complete development of project graphics and other visuals for use in communicating with stakeholders. Finish development of the project website and begin using it to promote the project and relevant online resources. Form the technology-transfer team and engage participants in extending the reach of project resources. Initiate on-farm research to assess performance of installed nutrient-recovery technology and impacts on the farm's nutrient balance. Develop a review paper on solid-liquid separation and 2-3 fact sheets that initiate a series of extension resources on technologies for solid-liquid separation and nutrient recovery. Develop one to two extension workshops and accomplish organization of one (1) conference. Complete 60% of the production facility and technical provider data collection. Draft four (4) additional case study publications and two (2) additional walk-through videos. Develop one to two workshops and accomplish organization of one (1) conference.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: The research activities of Objective 1 included several studies across three of the project co-PIs and students. These studies included: studying the effect of N/P molar ratios on struvite formation in livestock wastewaters, simulation of a membrane-separated electrolysis process to recover ammonia from agricultural wastewaters, evaluating phosphate recovery by a surface-immobilized cerium affinity peptide, exploring the effect of a peptide additive on struvite formation and morphology: a high-throughput method, studying guest residue and mass loading of assembled elastin-like peptides on gold controls electron transfer of a label-free redox probe, and development of novel anion exchange membranes to effectively treat wastewater in an electrodialysis unit operation prior to nutrient recovery. The outcomes include significant steps forward in understanding nutrient recovery and water recovery for agricultural wastewaters, communication of technical progress to national and international stakeholders, and advancement of student and team learning. The impact of the work in Objective 1 is that collectively the team's research will enable future options, scientific understanding, and awareness of how water and nutrients can be recycled and reused from hog and dairy wastewaters. Objective 2: Specific tasks that were planned for Objective 2 during the reporting period included i) starting and finishing a column leaching experiment, and ii) initiating a greenhouse potted-plant study for soil and crop response. We started and finished a plant-less soil column leaching experiment that included six soils, five fertilizer-P sources including an unamended control, and six leaching times. We also initiated a greenhouse potted-plant study with wheat that is currently on-going to evaluate the effects of six soils and seven fertilizer-P sources including an unamended control wheat and soil response. A complete dataset has been generated from the column leaching experiment that has been partially statistically analyzed. The outcomes to date during the reporting period include the complete dataset that has been generated from the column leaching experiment, the initiation of a greenhouse potted-plant study, and the chemical characterization of several batches of electrochemically precipitated struvite from synthetic wastewater. Objective 3: Efforts during this past project year focused on developing the decision support tool. We defined the boundaries of the decision support tool, identified input criteria that will help define user priorities, identified the unit processes for evaluation, and identified the relevant cost and benefit categories. In order to provide the most relevant potential manure management alternatives to the user, we will include a survey on the front end of the tool that asks about their limitations or constraints, as well as their manure management goals that may drive their decision making. These variables may include concerns for the environment, technical feasibility, and financial considerations. For example, they may prioritize capital investment, return on investment, labor requirements, or the availability of grants or subsidies. Through robust literature review and communications with experts, we estimated values for the costs and benefits of unit processes associated with manure management activities. We developed a framework to build out the economics of manure management scenarios that will be used as a primary criterion in the decision support tool. The major outcome from this work is an extensive database of information that will help drive the decision support tool, which in turn will provide farmers and consultants with the information they need to improve their management decisions. Objectives 4 and 5: Three major tasks have been completed (i) Prototype of UARK Manure Tool (ii) lifecycle inventory input table (III) Decision support system heuristic framework. (i) UARK Manure tool: The prototype manure management tool, is an excel based platform with empirical performance-based mass balances for a number (12 at present) of manure management system (MMS) alternatives representing the on-going & emerging treatment technologies and practices. This tool helps in the rapid quantification and assessment of waste generation and treatment providing an estimate of the Greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions either per animal/day or year. Outcome: Each of the 12 MMS alternatives contains three major components: (i) Treatment process, (ii) Lifecycle inventory, and (iii) Energy balance. (ii) Life cycle inventory of manure management: A Life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of each MMS considered in the project. A manure tool, described above, is the main foundation to pursue LCA modeling. The accomplished work on the LCI model has the following attributes: LCI of 12 MMS comprising all the inputs and outputs within the system are listed and a preliminary model for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) that integrates the results of inventory analysis and characterization factors of the emissions is under construction. (iii) Decision support system (Heuristics algorithm approach): Heuristic based Decision Support System (DSS) is used in the current project to support the decision-making process. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) used in the current project. AHP is a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on empirical numbers and human judgments. For AHP, the selected three criteria are used to constrain selection of a recommended option are: Technology, environmental and cost. For each criterion, we have defined additional sub-criteria. Objective 6: The extension team attended and presented at the North American Manure Expo 2019, at Fair Oaks, IN. We met with the Newtrient group to explore collaboration to improve extension materials regarding practical manure treatment technology and have started following up with producers and vendors since then. Several dozens of technical providers have been contacted via other trade show attendance (Missouri Pork Expo at Columbia, MO, and Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment, and Transport, Indianapolis, IN) and direct phone calls. We have begun data collection and relationship building with six (6) production facilities (two hog farms and four dairy farms) that are successfully utilizing technologies for on-farm nutrient/water recovery. We have conducted preliminary interviews, explained the details and value of the MaNuRE project, and conducted three (3) site visits for photographic documentation and sample collection. A water and nutrient recycling workshop had been planned and scheduled for the 2020 American Society of Biological and Agricultural Engineers (ASABE) conference in Omaha, Nebraska. However, the conference was moved to an online venue due to COVID-19 Pandemic issues, and the workshop was cancelled as a result. It is our intention to repurpose the workshop for the Waste-to-Worth conference in April of 2021, at Ohio, and the 2021 ASABE Conference in Anaheim, CA. Impact: Two (2) technical providers have undergone in-depth review by the Extension team. An additional five (5) providers have been selected for in-depth follow-up out of over twenty (20) technical providers, including equipment/process developers, consultants, engineers, government agencies, and NGOs. Two (2) Extension publications (case studies) have been developed and are under review. One (1) nutrient recycling virtual walk-though video has been created. One (1) "how to" educational video is being created. Outcome: We expect many producers and technical providers we have interacted with so far, as well as conference attendees (scientist, trainee, or citizen), have learned or become aware of the MaNuRE project.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: L.F. Greenlee, G. Qing, L. Kekedy-Nagy. Electrochemical Wastewater Treatment: Nutrient Recovery and Selective Contaminant Removal. (2019) Proceedings of the ISES Solar World Congress 2019, doi:10.18086/swc.2019.48.01.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: G. Qing, L. Kekedy-Nagy, Z. Anari, S. Foster, M. Matlock, G. Thoma, L.F. Greenlee. Electrochemical Wastewater Treatment: Nutrient Recovery and Selective Contaminant Removal, November 4-9, 2019, Solar World Congress, Santiago, Chile.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: L.F. Greenlee, Research Overview: Electrochemical Technology for Agriculture, August 6, 2019, Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture, Honolulu, Hawaii.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: G. Qing, Z. Anari, S.L. Foster, G. Thoma, M. Matlock, L.F. Greenlee, Electrochemical System for Disinfection of Irrigation Water and Disinfection/Ammonia Removal from Aquaculture Wastewater, October 29, 2019, Hawaii Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, Lahaina, Hawaii.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: A Akbari, LF Greenlee, Ammonia recovery from agricultural wastewaters with electrodialysis: COMSOL modeling, In preparation for submission to Desalination.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: A Akbari, H Mirfarah, LF Greenlee, Conductive polymeric membranes: Structure, synthesis, and application in water technology, In preparation for submission to Journal of Membrane Science
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Z Su, J Hostert, JN Renner, Phosphate Recovery by a Surface-immobilized Cerium Affinity Peptide, ACS ES&T Water, 2020 under revision.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: 2. J Hostert, O Kamlet, Z Su, N Kane, JN Renner, A high-throughput method for analyzing struvite formation and morphology: exploring the effect of peptide additives, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2020 under revision.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Z Su, C-O Kim, JN Renner, Guest residue and mass loading of assembled elastin-like peptides on gold controls electron transfer of a label-free redox probe, in preparation for submission to Chemical Communications
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: M Yu, JN Renner* and CE Duval*, A lysine-modified polyethersulfone (PES) membrane for the recovery of lanthanides, Frontiers in Chemistry. 2020, 8. *Invited Special Collection - Women in Science: Chemistry
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: I Wu, MC Kuo, AM Herring - Meeting Abstracts, 2019 - The Electrochemical Society. Tunable Permselectivity in a Robust Anion Exchange Membrane for Electrodialysis #Z01-2326.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: V.S. Varma, G. Thoma, Dairy and swine manure management Challenges and perspectives for technology selection and decision support tool, in preparation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: J. Cedillos, I. Wu, A. Herring, Separation Performance of Anion Exchange Membranes with Electrodialysis, Colorado School of Mines Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 23-29, 2020, Golden, CO.


Progress 08/01/18 to 07/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences our efforts reached in this reporting period included: i) professionals/producers in the swine and dairy industry and Arkansas Farm Bureau through a presentation/discussion at Arkansas Farm Bureau's annual winter meeting in January 2019, ii) other scientists and students directly collaborating on this project though periodic group meetings/conference calls, and iii) other scientists, professionals, and students not directly collaborating on this project through participation in the 2019 Water Conference sponsored by the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC). The AWRC conference attracts regional attendees from Arkansas and surrounding states and includes professionals from municipal, industrial, and academic institutions. The target audiences also included engineers, agricultural facility owners and staff, manure handling operators, Extension staff, and other stakeholders that attended the Waste to Worth and American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) 2019 conferences. Our efforts included a presentation on the AFRI project and team to the January 2019 Arkansas Farm Bureau swine/dairy annual meeting. In addition, our team organized a one-day workshop at the annual Arkansas Water Resources Conference in Fayetteville, Arkansas. All project team PIs and personnel traveled to Fayetteville to attend and participate in the AWRC conference in July 2019. The AWRC conference included a full day of invited speakers from agriculture and wastewater industries. Our speakers included: Mark Stoermann from Newtrient, Dr. Michael Watts from Garver, Inc., Rachel Lee from Ostara, Lance McAvoy from the City of Fort Smith, Bill Parmentier from Ductor, Bryan Leamons from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Dirk Phillip from the University of Arkansas Devision of Agriculture, John Chastain from Clemson University, and Karl VanDevender from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. All student personnel funded on this AFRI project presented poster presentations of their work during the AWRC poster session. Our efforts also consisted of an organized special session titled Wastewater Treatment for Water and Nutrient Recycling - Stakeholder Perspectives (approximately 25 participants) and a highlighted technical session titled Manure Treatment Systems and Anaerobic Digestion and Fermentation (~75 participants) at the 2019 Waste to Worth conference. Additionally, the project was introduced and discussed in a technical subcommittee meeting (~25 participants) at the ASABE conference. Changes/Problems:Overall, the team worked on recruiting personnel for the project over the first 9 -12 months, so most personnel were hired in the spring-summer of 2019, and our project progress was delayed until all personnel were hired. Objective 1: In our preliminary membrane work, it is difficult to control the IEC when changing the block lengths, as these two parameters are intertwined. However, interpretation of results then becomes difficult since we don't know whether to attribute the trends to the IEC or the block lengths. Recognizing this, we aim to find strategies to control the IEC, which will not only assist in our ability to interpret data, but also benefit membrane design for the field since control of IEC has been a long-sought after goal. Objective 2: There have been no problems or issues encountered to date that would require any major change in the initial planned approach to address Objective 2 and the associated tasks. Objective 3: The only challenge to date was in hiring a graduate student to work on the project. In the proposal funds were request for an agricultural economics MS student to participate in the project. The graduate assistantship offered through this project was not competitive in the region for top students in agricultural economics masters programs. Therefore, the higher time took longer than expected and slowed first year progress on economics objectives. With the hiring of Ms. Scott, project efforts are well underway and will be consistent throughout the next reporting period. Objective 4: None to date. Objective 5: None to date. Objective 6: None to date. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During this reporting period, all graduate students funded by the project were mentored one-on-one on a weekly basis by their respective faculty advisors. In addition, the entire project team met monthly together to discuss project start up and initial results. All graduate students participated in each monthly meeting by presenting slides on their recent results. In addition, the students on the team meet together in student meetings where the students meet monthly to discuss their projects and research progress. At the Colorado School of Mines, the graduate student on this project trained two undergraduates during this reporting period. They were taught basic laboratory skills such as making and diluting solutions, analysis techniques including IEC determination, and gained background knowledge on introductory polymer science. In addition, the graduate student from the Colorado School of Mines was able to present her preliminary results at the Arkansas Water Resource Center's (AWRC) annual conference in a poster and won first place. She also attended the associated AWRC workshops. At Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), two students (Zihang Su and Jacob Hostert) are mentored under this project. Dr. Renner meets with each student weekly to discuss research progress and help the student make future research plans. Both students have taken Dr. Renner's protein engineering graduate class. They also attended the Arkansas Water Resources Center Annual Water Conference in July 2019 and presented posters on their work. Zihang Su attended the Bioelectronics Gordon conference in 2019 as well. At the University of Arkansas, there are three graduate students being trained under this project. Thus far, the graduate student involved in Objective 1 has been trained on electrochemical techniques, water chemistry and materials characterization techniques, and reactor design. The one graduate student involved in Objective 2 has experienced training and development in the areas of i) laboratory, greenhouse, and field skills, ii) various soil and plant sampling techniques, iii) working independently and as a part of a team, iv) data acquisition and analyses, and v) scientific writing. The student has also participated in periodic project meetings and has gained knowledge and development from the various classes she has taken already. Finally, the third graduate student at the University of Arkansas underwent extensive economic theory and tool training during this period. This is providing her with much of the baseline knowledge needed to carry out the tasks associated with her roles in objectives 2,3 and 5. While pursuing her PhD and working on this project, she is also an employee of the Arkansas Water Resources Center and played a large role in the logistics of the Annual conference. During the conference fulfilled two roles as a student participant as well as a conference organizer. For Objectives 4-5, a postdoctoral researcher has been hired and started in August 2019; thus we have nothing to report for the 2018-2019 reporting period. At the University of Missouri and the University of Nebraska Lincoln, the extension team has hired several technical staff researchers and has been in contact with several producers and industry professionals. The technical engineer hired for the project, Mr. Canter, has learned much about the agriculture industries, understanding of the industry, market, and various technologies commonly utilized for agricultural applications has greatly increased. Faculty have spent time one-on-one with Mr. Canter, mentoring him and providing educational support. By the time this report is submitted, he will have traveled to the Arkansas Water Resources Conference (AWRC) and the North American Manure Expo (NAME). The extension team has collaborated closely with research team and industry, provided workshops with invited speakers to start the long-term profession training and development effort. More workshops are being planned. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Objective 1: Under Objective 1, several publications were accepted during the summer of 2019. PI Greenlee participated in the special sessions planned by the team at the Waste to Worth Conference in Minneapolis, MN in April 2019, where she presented slides on the overall project goals and project team, as well as the planned research activities and expected outputs. In addition, the team presented slides at the annual hog and dairy annual meeting of the Arkansas Farm Bureau in January 2019. The presentation covered the project goals and communicate with regional producers our research activities, as well as enabled the team to get feedback from the producers on their challenges around water and nutrient management. In addition, 4 posters were created by funded graduate students with preliminary results and literature review and presented at the Arkansas Water Resource Center's annual conference in July 2019, which was open to students and professionals working in water management and nutrient recovery. Another poster will be presented at the Electrochemical Society's 236th Meeting in October 2019. At Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Renner runs a summer program for female high school students called the Widening Opportunities for Women in Science (WOWS) Program. In this program, students gain lab experience under a graduate student mentor, learn more about the chemical engineering profession, and present their research projects at an end-of-summer celebration. Students in the Renner Laboratory become familiar with protein and peptide engineering concepts, and are sometimes included in group meetings where the are exposed to the results and impacts of this work. Objective 2: No formal results have been generated yet to convey to any external audience. Preliminary results have been conveyed to other project team members as part of periodic team meetings. A presentation was made to the Arkansas Farm Bureau and swine and dairy producers in January 2019 to convey the goals of this project and gather feedback on what actual producers who deal with nutrient-rich agricultural waste waters would like to see occur in the future with waste water management and nutrient removal and how that impacts their everyday operations. The graduate student presented a posted at a local, regional conference on her up-coming research plans related to this project. Objective 3: No formal results have been disseminated to the community. However, the student poster section of the Arkansas Water Resources Center provided conference attendees with information on the team's efforts to date. Objective 4-5: No formal results have been generated yet. Preliminary feedback on a survey instrument designed to engage stakeholders, have been conveyed to other project team members as part of periodic team meetings. A presentation was made to the Arkansas Farm Bureau and swine and dairy producers in January 2019 to convey the goals of this project and gather feedback on what actual producers who deal with nutrient-rich agricultural waste waters would like to see occur in the future with waste water management and nutrient removal and how that impacts their everyday operations. Objective 6: We have increased awareness of the project through information dissemination at four (4) conferences: Waste to Worth, ASABE, AWRC, and NAME. Collaborators: National 1) Livestock & Poultry Environmental Learning Center 2) Newtrient LLC What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: For electrochemical reactor design, at the University of Arkansas, we plan to test single chamber versus multi-chamber configurations with commercially-available and experimental membranes. We will collaborate with Colorado School of Mines to test scalable and viable experimental membranes. We will focus on understanding and testing water chemistry parameters that are important for hog and dairy wastes, including magnesium/potassium concentrations, ammonium, phosphate, organic carbon concentration, and pH/temperature. We plan to study what solid particulates form under certain electrochemical cell operational parameters so that we can eventually understand how to control what precipitates form and what the water product streams contain. Our targets for nutrient recovery are magnesium potassium phosphate (K struvite), calcium phosphate (i.e., triple super phosphate), and magnesium ammonium phosphate. Our goal is to be able to use the electrochemical cell parameters to obtain either K struvite or calcium phosphate and thereby separate the ammonium from the phosphate in the treated water streams. If we can achieve an ammonium-free phosphate precipitate and a concentrated aqueous ammonium stream, we may be able to provide producers with an approach to control N and P ratios in fertilization, as well as control where N and P end up in recycled waters. For membrane development, we plan to find strategies to control the IEC. The IEC measures the membrane's ability to attract/reject ions, and since our material is low swelling, we aim to push our IEC higher while maintaining this low swelling characteristic. This control will be done by modifying the quaternization procedure by varying temperature, solvents, and post-quaternization modification such as hot-pressing. Identification of key parameters affecting IEC will also allow us to make better comparisons between different block ratios that have the same IEC, thus only changing one variable at a time. With these new design rules, we will be better able to identify desirable structures to create practical yet highly selective anion exchange membranes. Understanding of these structure-performance relationships will also open doors to designing high performing membranes used in dewatering applications. For peptide engineering technology, over the next reporting period we hope to achieve two goals 1) demonstrate sequence-driven control over cation exchange ionomer thin film morphologies and 2) study the selectivity of the cerium-phosphate co-capture system. We will achieve this using similar tools outlined in our work to date, which includes the use of QCM-D, FTIR, and AFM. Objective 2: During the next reporting period we plan to complete the graduate student's literature review and PhD research proposal; initiate and conduct a small-column leaching experiment with MO, NE, and AR soils and various fertilizer-P sources, including electrochemically precipitated struvite (ECST); initiate and conduct potted-plant studies in greenhouse with wheat/corn in MO, NE, and AR soils for response to ECST and various other common, commercially available fertilizer-P sources; and initiate a field study with wheat/corn for response to fertilizer-P sources. No problems or issues have been encountered yet. Objective 3: Plans for the next reporting period include: Competition of an extensive literature review associated with the economics of liquid manure management systems Cost benefit analyses on the field trials will begin The inputs and outputs of the decision support tool will be determined Economic databases needed to support the decision support tool will be designed data collection will begin. Objectives 4-5: There are two primary activities that will be the focus of our efforts in the next reporting period. These are the establishment of baseline lifecycle assessment inventory for dairy and swine manure management technologies with that initial focus on commonly available technologies such as: solid separation, anaerobic digestion, lagoon storage, and composting. This effort will build on previous studies that were conducted in ad-hoc fashion, and we will work to harmonize the studies for easy incorporation into the DSST. We will collaborate with the extension team to develop a complete heuristic for the decision-support tool that includes detailed evaluation of the type of decisions likely to be taken coupled with the necessary information in the form of a decision tree that will lead to a suitable site-specific alternate manure management system with improved sustainability performance. A draft decision tree is being circulated in the next month and will be refined through feedback with both team members and external stakeholders. No problems or issues have been encountered yet. Objective 6: We will create a project website and begin content creation around topics related to the research and overall goals and objective of this project. Core content will be placed in Extension publications and made available to both Extension staff and the general public for training and educational purposes. Training workshops will be developed for Extension staff to share results of vendor and producer surveys so that best practices, key challenges, and treatment technology options can begin to be disseminated. In Year 2, UNL-led efforts will enlarge and build upon awareness efforts: • Develop project web presence [on LPELC.org] • Advance stakeholder engagement - Identify technology-transfer team • Identify needed extension resources - Prioritized topics and prospective author teams • Initiate planning for later activities - 2021 Waste to Worth - Evaluation of extension program

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Global population growth, intensification of climate variability, and resulting variability in reliable water resources requires that water recycling become an integrated part of agricultural water resource management.Further, important nutrients are lost to wastewaters but could be recycled and reused for food production.Absent a concerted effort to recycle these nutrients, the food supply demand will inherently create a less resilient agriculture industry. Water treatment and nutrient needs will vary geographically and based on production. Thus, resilient strategies for food production require a flexible decision-making approach. In this project, we are addressing this issue of regional challenges and national agricultural food security by developing innovative technology for liquid manure wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery within the framework of a decision-making tool that allows technology selection. The technology being developed is focused on modular and versatile electrochemical technologies that provide water purification, along with nutrient separation and recovery. Our results also include the impacts of recycled water and nutrients on fertilization and crop production. The broad, societal implications of the results of this project will be to enable sustainable and productive farming practices that provide food for the future population, while maintaining the health and supply of water and nutrient resources. Our work will result in more efficient use of farm wastewaters, recycling of nutrients for on-farm fertilization, and the ability to control regional use and movement of nutrients to where they are needed for fertilization. Objective 1: Design and test electrochemical technology for treatment of and nutrient recovery from liquid manure. In Objective 1, we have developed initial electrochemical technology designs that will be useful and amenable to on-farm needs for hog and dairy farms.Our goal with nutrients is to be able to selectively separate and recover specific nutrients (e.g., magnesium, potassium, ammonium, phosphate, and calcium) in specific forms, including both precipitates that can be recovered as a dry, particulate product (e.g., calcium phosphate, magnesium potassium phosphate, and magnesium ammonium phosphate) and liquid water streams that can be reused for irrigation and fertilization on-farm (e.g., ammonium water solution). The technology that we are focused on is a membrane-separated electrochemical reactor that can be tuned and controlled to separate N and P nutrient compounds into a concentrated ammonia aqueous product and a solid precipitate that removes most of the phosphorus from the waste water stream. The water coming out of the reactor would also be treated and able to be reused for irrigation, and there may be the opportunity for by-product formation (e.g., hydrogen as fuel). Specifically, we focused on the design of anion exchange membranes applied to electrochemical separations such as electrodialysis. We have developed a robust ABA triblock copolymer. This polymer displays low swelling, which is indicative of good mechanical strength, and was previously optimized for high conductivity. We also aim to design biomolecular systems from which design rules can be defined to enhance fouling control of ion-exchange membranes, and, enhance the kinetics/specificity of nutrient recovery in electrochemical devices. The main outcome from this year is that we have established tunable peptide platforms from which we can achieve the specific goals of 1) reducing fouling in ionomer-based membrane materials and 2) selectively capturing nutrients in wastewater. Objective 2: Study the impacts of recovered water/fertilizer on soil productivity and crop response. Specific tasks that were planned for Objective 2 during the reporting period included i) characterization of recovered fertilizers and water and ii) greenhouse studies for soil and crop response. We have obtained soils from AR, NE, and MO and have conducted soil property characterizations to lay the foundation to initiate a greenhouse potted-plant study and a plant-less soil column leaching experiment in the very near future to assess the effects of various fertilizer-P sources on plant/crop and soil response. No experiment results have been generated and no impacts outside the research project team have been realized yet, but both will change in the next reporting period. The outcomes to date include soil collection and the soil property characterizations that have been conducted as required pre-requisite activities prior to beginning/conducting any actual experiments. Objective 3: Evaluate economic costs and benefits of water treatment technologies related to liquid manure management and crop production. This reporting period was dedicated to developing a strong base in economic theory and tools. Additionally, activities began under three objectives. First, we worked with leaders of Objective 2 to design thee economic analysis that will accompany the crop response field study. Second, an extensive literature review was undertaken to understand the costs and benefits associated with liquid manure management systems. Finally, initial steps have been taken on Objective 5 with the decision support tool programming and extension teams to develop surveys of farmers and industry to inform components and values within the field. The outcomes to date include a literature review, a decision support tool information flow draft and drafts of questionnaires for farmers and industry. Objective 4: Develop a lifecycle assessment (LCA) model that projects the environmental and economic impacts of implementation strategies for liquid manure treatment technologies. Because the postdoctoral researcher started after the reporting period, there were limited accomplishments beyond discussions with the team members who organized the session at the Waste to Worth conference regarding the overarching design of the decision support tool. Objective 5: Develop a modular decision-support tool that guides users in water and nutrient recycling technology selection based upon specific regional and farm operational parameters. The activities for this Objective focused on specifically defining the classes of questions necessary for eliciting information from stakeholders regarding the kind and scale of decisions that should be targeted in the DSST. Objective 6: Engage agricultural and industrial stakeholders nationally on integrating the most locally robust manure treatment technology into agricultural production. The team has drafted two levels of survey questions, for both producers (2 files) and technology vendors (2 files).A technologies spreadsheet was also developed to track the existing manure treatment options available in the North American region, and sites and vendors visited. The extension team also conducted workshops in the 2019 Waste to Worth Conference. The interactions with producers, researchers, and vendors started great conversation and interests in the manure treatment logistics and options.The team also started the plans to have special workshop(s) presentation at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) 2020 (July, Omaha, NE), and North American Manure Expo 2020 (August, Ontario). In Year 1, the University of Nebraska focused on building awareness of the project with stakeholders, primarily technology providers and animal industry advisors and consultants. Key efforts included: Initiated development of a logo and tagline that will assist with building awareness and branding; Coordinated project-sponsored activities at the Waste to Worth conference; and Engaged in developing surveys for use with project stakeholders.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Z Su, S Kole, VM Palakkal, LC Harden, CO Kim, CO Nair, CG Arges, and JN Renner, Peptide-modified electrode surfaces for promoting anion exchange ionomer microphase separation and ionic conductivity. ACS Materials Letters 2019, accepted.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: M Xu, Z Su, and JN Renner, Characterization of cerium (III) ion binding to surface-immobilized EF-hand loop I of calmodulin. Peptide Science 2019, accepted.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wu, Ivy, A. Teymouri, M.C. Kuo, A.M. Herring. Electrochemical Nutrient Recovery and Desalination of Wastewater, AWRC Conference, July 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wu,Ivy, M.C. Kuo, A.M. Herring. Tunable Permselectivity in a Robust Anion Exchange Membrane for Electrodialysis, 236th ECS Meeting, October 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: J Hostert, and JN Renner, High Throughput Method for Quantifying the Kinetic Parameters of Struvite Formation, Arkansas Water Resources Center Annual Water Conference; July 2019, Fayetteville AR.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Z Su, and JN Renner, Phosphate Recovery from Wastewater by Immobilized EF-hand Peptide, Arkansas Water Resources Center Annual Water Conference; July 2019, Fayetteville AR.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Z Su, S Kole, C Kim, CG Arges and JN Renner, Engineered Short Elastin-Like Peptides to Control Ionomer on Metal Surfaces for Electrode Manufacturing Applications, Bioelectronics Gordon Research Conference; June 2019, Andover, NH.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Simms, T., and K.R. Brye. 2019. Electrochemically precipitated struvite effects on soil property and crop response: Proposed activities. Arkansas Water Resources Conference. Fayetteville, AR, July 30-31.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Scott, E. and J. Popp. 2019. Literature Review on Cost-Benefit Analysis of Enhance Nutrient Recovery Techniques. Poster presented at the annual Arkansas Water Resources Conference, July 29-30, Fayetteville AR.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: A. Akbari, and L.F. Greenlee. 2019. Electrochemical technology for nutrient recovery and water purification: Applications in Hog and Dairy Farms. Arkansas Water Resources Conference, July 29-30, Fayetteville, AR.