The Canadian Light source at the University of Saskatchewan has helped research efforts to develop a green method of producing fertilizer.

The standard method of converting nitrogen gas to ammonia is energy intensive.

But researchers have recently developed a new green process for converting the nitrates in industrial wastewater into ammonia.

The method added electricity to a single iron atom catalyst, with promising results.

Rice University assistant professor Dr. Haotian Wang says the research shows wastewater can be used to produce a valuable chemical with the input of renewable electricity, without more carbon emissions.

Next steps include boosting the catalyst’s stability to be scaled up for real-world applications and more experiments on industrial wastewater, which can be complex.

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