FOOD

Powering Indoor Farms with Fertilizer Energy

Innovation is needed to improve crop yields and food quality to feed growing populations. Large amounts of energy are wasted each time concentrated fertilizers are diluted in water – a common practice in hydroponics. We are developing technologies that harness fertilizer energy to produce irrigation water and to control indoor plant climates.

Fertilizer Dehumidification

We are pioneering the new concept of using fertilizer to dehumidify indoor farms and close the plant water cycle.

More Info:

S. Moussaddy, S. Pushparajah, and J. Maisonneuve, “Fertilizer-based liquid desiccants: A novel concept for energy efficient dehumidification and water vapor recycling in indoor plant environments,” Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023).

Multi-Ion Polarization

We develop accurate models to describe the polarization of multiple fertilizer ions that occur concurrently across membranes and their boundary layers.

More Info:

P. Pourmovahed and J. Maisonneuve, “Thermodynamic limits of using fertilizer osmosis to produce mechanical work via pressure retarded osmosis,” Journal of Membrane Science 629 (2021).

Fertilizer Osmosis

We develop osmotic processes that use fertilizer to recover all the irrigation water a plant needs, from wastewater.

More Info:

P. Pourmovahed, M. Lefsrud, and J. Maisonneuve, "Thermodynamic limits of using fertilizer to produce clean fertigation solution from wastewater via forward osmosis," Journal of Membrane Science 647 (2022).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

maisonneuve@oakland.edu

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