According to Dr. Claudia Stange Klein, a researcher at the University of Chile, the formulation of a so-called biomodulator requires chitosan – a cationic polysaccharide produced through the deacetylation of chitin, found in most exoskeletons of insects, crustaceans and the cell wall of fungi. Then to make the cocktail, chemical molecules that showed promising results in previous research carried out at the University of Chile, are added.
Claudia Stange Klein, Researcher, University of Chile
The formulation also contains bacteria obtained from plants that grow in the Atacama Desert, in the north of the country. According to previous research carried out by scientists at the Arturo Prat University, these microorganisms have high resistance to salinity, allowing them to live in environments that are adverse to fauna.
In addition, another bacterial formulation provided by INIA La Cruz was incorporated into the development of the biomodulator. This combination was tested on greenhouse-grown tomatoes, which showed the biomodulator favoured growth even when irrigated with saline water. “We want to generate a biomodulator that has the characteristic of being ecologically correct, allowing a safe alternative for the environment and consumers,” says Stange Klein.
She explained that plants treated with the biomodulator already have better survival against salinity and drought, as well as improvement in several functional parameters, such as the number of leaves, root length, plant height and chlorophyll content, among others. The study is carried out by comparing plants without the application of the input under conditions of environmental abiotic
Figures in this regard indicate that about 40 percent of the earth's surface is affected by drought, a figure that could increase to 50 percent by 2025. The situation is even more critical when it comes to the cultivation of fruit and vegetables – especially tomato that, despite being one of the most popular crops in the world, is one of the most sensitive to the weather.
In this scenario, research and solutions are increasingly needed for plants to become more resilient to maintain productivity and be able to feed a rapidly growing global population. But there is good news from Chile, one of the countries with the smallest arable area and one of the most inclement climates in South America. In that country, there are about 1,500 hectares that present problems of salinity and a high presence of carbonates (inorganic salts insoluble in water). This is mainly due to the arid conditions of the central and northern areas of Chile, accentuated by agricultural practices such as irrigation with water with high salt content and inadequate fertilization, among others.
To face the challenge, researchers from the University of Chile’s faculty of science are developing a biological formulation that aims to increase tomato tolerance to water stress and soil salinity, which could save water in these crops and benefit the harvest in lands currently affected by this type of abiotic stress. Also part of the project, called PASSA (Plant Abiotic Stress for a Sustainable Agriculture), are Arturo Prat University and the Chilean Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA La Cruz), linked to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Formulation and mode of action The “biomodulator” incorporates a series of natural compounds, mainly lipoic acid and carotenoids, which have antioxidant properties – substances that prevent the deleterious action of free radicals on cells, which favour cell aging, DNA damage and the appearance of diseases.
“In the case of lipoic acid and carotenoids, these are two strong antioxidants that are already found in plants. As drought and salinity cause oxidative stress in cells, it is expected that, by foliar application of these antioxidants, these effects can be attenuated in plants,” says Dr. Michael Handford, co-director of the PASSA project and academic with the faculty of sciences at the University of Chile.
As well as chitosan and other molecules that the research team have worked on, the formulation also contains bacteria obtained from plants that grow in the Atacama Desert, in the north of the country. According to previous research carried out by scientists at the Arturo Prat University, these microorganisms have high resistance to salinity, allowing them to live in environments that are adverse to fauna.
She explained that plants treated with the biomodulator already have better survival against salinity and drought, as well as improvement in several functional parameters, such as the number of leaves, root length, plant height and chlorophyll content, among others. The study is carried out by comparing plants without the application of the input under conditions of environmental abiotic stress as a result of climate change and global warming.
“We are currently evaluating the biomodulator in hydroponic tomatoes, but our goal is that it can also be used on any type of soil and plant,” noted Stange Klein. “When we have the results of commercial tomatoes in the field, where they will be analyzed in the soil, we can be sure of that.”
She added that to make this happen, the team is also analyzing other alternatives, which can be substitutes or complementary to these biomodulators. In addition, they work with growth promoters developed from native rhizobacteria (PGPR, or Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria) obtained from the INIA La Cruz Microorganism Bank, which have been shown to favour growth under salinity conditions in experiments with tomatoes carried out in greenhouses of the Chilean Agricultural Research Institute.
Growth-promoting bacteria of the genus Bacillus show that commercial tomato plants in greenhouses have greater tolerance to drought and salinity, evaluated in fresh weight.
According to the members of the research group, all alternatives are welcome at this time and can be part of this project. “We are separately evaluating growth-promoting bacteria, plant molecules that are antioxidants, and synthetic chemical compounds. Once we have the final results, we will make a unique formulation to be evaluated in the field,” said Stange Klein.
Growth-promoting bacteria of the genus Bacillus, isolated at INIA La Cruz, show that commercial tomato
plants in greenhouses have greater tolerance to drought and salinity, evaluated in fresh weight. “Some of the bacteria of the genus Bacillus attenuate the negative effect of salinity, possibly due to the greater accumulation of NaCl ions in the leaves and roots,” added Stange Klein. “We are currently evaluating gene expression and the activity of detoxifying enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase to understand this mechanism.”
The biomodulator was also determined to combat water stress in Micro-Tom tomato, a miniature, fast-lifecycle variety of tomato.
In addition, the tests are being carried out in a consortium. One corresponds to the consortium of different strains of Pseudomonas bacteria and the other assay, with another consortium, with different strains of Staphylococcus.
The rise of the idea Chile has been feeling the impact of
drought on agriculture. It was from this point of view, intending to mitigate these problems, that Chilean researchers tried to discover a natural and sustainable alternative to try to produce food in adverse situations.
“The water crisis that we are experiencing as a planet especially affects our country and is reflected in activities such as agriculture,” said Stange Klein. “Among the various alternatives being investigated to mitigate these effects, the strengthening of the plants' capacities to grow in adverse environments to obtain food despite consequences such as drought and salinity stands out.”
The research was developed and financed with PIA (Associative Research Program) funds from the National Research and Development Alliance (ANID) of Chile. The team is also composed of Drs. Lorena Norambuena and Michael Handford (faculty of science, University of Chile), Dr. Juan Pablo Martínez (INIA La Cruz) and Dr. Ricardo Tejos (Arturo Prat University). They are assisted by a 12-person team that includes postdocs, research assistants, undergraduate and graduate students, and a journalist.
At this point in the project, the team managed to select two concentrations of plant molecules, and the next step is to define which one would be the ideal concentration. The research, however, could already be more advanced, but the Covid-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the researchers' schedule. “We requested the extension of the project, because, as a result of the pandemic, there was a delay of approximately one year in the results,” noted Stange Klein.
We are currently evaluating the biomodulator in hydroponic tomatoes, but our goal is that it can also be used on any type of soil and plant
“We determined concentrations of plant molecules and chemical molecules that generate greater survival, root and stem length under saline stress conditions. We determined that lipoic acid has a significant effect on chlorophyll content and number of leaves, as well as increased yield and fruit size, for drought treatments.”
The assays were evaluated in some tomato varieties. One is an indeterminate hybrid tomato. The other is a local variety, called Poncho Negro, which is typical of the Yuta
Valley, Azapa, Arica, and Parinacota, areas of northern Chile. The biomodulator was also determined to combat water stress in Micro-Tom tomato, a miniature, fast-lifecycle variety of tomato.
“Height, internode length and fresh root weight increased significantly, which were reduced in the face of abiotic stress,” said Stange Klein, adding that other plant molecules evaluated also had beneficial effects, but as they are in the process of being studied for intellectual protection, at the moment the team keeps the names and concentrations confidential.
The research team is evaluating the effect of these compounds and rhizobacteria on tomato plants through morphological, physiological and molecular analyses on tolerance to drought and salt stress, among others. Thus, positive results have been obtained in different characteristics with the application of lipoic acid, carotenoids, chemical molecules and some rhizobacteria individually or in a consortium.
After field tests, if the result is what the researchers expect, the discovery could be commercialized on the market within two to three years after obtaining the necessary license and registrations. “We are also studying the intellectual protection of biomodulators. We are currently starting the study of intellectual property at the University of Chile. After that, we will start the process of commercializing the license to companies in the sector.” ●
Strengthening of the plants' capacities to grow in adverse environments to obtain food despite consequences such as drought and salinity stands out
Open field tomatoes grown in Chile
Soilgenic Technologies, LLC is focused on Climate Smart Technologies for Agriculture. Soilgenic has developed a suite of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizer (EEF) Technologies for all Nitrogen fertilizers as well as a technology to improve phosphate fertilizer availability. In April 2022, the company announced its patented enhanced DCD technology – NitroBlock Enhanced DCD – that the company says significantly improves below ground loss of nitrogen from leaching and denitrification. New AG International spoke with CEO Jeff Ivan to learn more
Let’s begin with the corporate side, before diving into the products – what’s the focus of Soilgenic as a company? Soilgenic Technologies is a privately held company focused on Climate Smart Agriculture. In summary the ability to improve fertilizer use efficiency and to bring technologies forward that provide sustainable solutions for agriculture. A big part of what we are focused on is GHG mitigation and providing a low carbon solution for agriculture. We brought in a group who has developed over 40 patents in the EEF space and has developed several technologies that provide significant enhancements over what we call Gen 1 EEF Technologies. Not only are the Gen 2 technologies a vast improvement, but we have provided a much lower cost that will improve the user adoption in the marketplace.
Before asking what the plan is for you as CEO, could you give a brief summary of your career to date and how you became interested in sustainable agriculture? I’ve been in Agriculture for 32 years now and pretty much all of those years focused on the fertilizer sector. I started my career in the retail sector in Western Canada and then moved over to Tiger-Sul products focusing on sulphur-based fertilizers and micronutrients. After moving into managing the Canadian market, I switched focus to managing the international business development for the group. I also worked with The Sulphur Institute (TSI) as the project lead for the promotion of sulphur-based fertilizer in the India market working closely with the Fertilizer Association of India. For the past 10 years I’ve worked with Ag Growth International (AGI) and continued to focus on international development projects including in developing
regions, working closely with NGOs and governments on the development of fertilizer plants to increase food security.
During this period, we saw the IPCC release the report on agriculture and the impact on climate change. Globally we have seen a push for sustainability in agriculture. Agriculture represents up to 24% off GHG emissions and is a major contributor to climate change. We have identified technologies that can make a dramatic impact to not only lower GHG emission but to improve nutrient use efficiency and crop yields.. This has brought me to Soilgenic and our focus on Climate Smart Technologies and how we can play a major role in providing new technologies for farmers transitioning to a low carbon farming system.
So, what’s the plan? What can you tell us about the EEF Technologies you are bringing to the market? Our Gen 2 EEF Technologies that we have developed is a wide portfolio of technologies that provides significant value to the market. First off, we have one of the widest ranges of EEF technologies that provides a solution for all Nitrogen and Phosphate fertilizers. All formulations are high concentration products that results in a lower application rate. Visio-N for Urea provides solutions for above ground, below ground or total protection at a price point that is half of the current industry Gen 1 technologies. We’ve also designed it for cold or hot humid climates. Diamond-N is our technology for UAN. We’ve designed a coating technology ensures the highest level of actives in the agricultural market which readily dissolve in UAN resulting iin a solution not a suspenstion. The ability of Diamond-N to dissolve into a solution allows for the addition at the retail level. The grower doesn’t have to worry about the settling out of actives that results from a suspension. Diamond-N provides a cost-effective, unique solution for protecting UAN solutions. Knifed-N is the only non-corrosive EEF formulation for anhydrous ammonia. This provides a significant benefit over other technologies in this space. In addition, we’ve lowered the cost by 50% with this technology and can also add in a soil enhancement technology to improve phosphate availability. Drive-N completes our portfolio for Nitrogen EEF technologies. Drive-N is designed for ammonia-based fertilizers such as ammonium sulphate and MAP and DAP Phosphate fertilizers. The technology allows for the coating of hard granules to penetrate and provide the protection from nitrogen loss.
Your EEF technologies provides a complete portfolio for all Nitrogen Fertilizers. What about upstream coating at Urea manufacturing facilities? Is this something Soilgenic can provide? Upstream coating of Urea is an area we are focusing on. Our patent in this space is unique and allows for the easy integration of adding our EEF technologies to Urea without having to retool the facility putting the facility offline. Our Visio-N Upstream technology allows Urea manufacturers to provide a protected Urea for their customers at the lowest industry cost. We find
that upstream coating of Urea towards the end of the granulation process is most cost effective in applying a coating and results in higher quality urea. Third party research has shown that Urea hardness improves up to 20% with the addition of our Visio-N Upstream Technology. It’s the perfect solution for Urea manufacturers to enhance their Urea and provide a sustainable Nitrogen solution.
Nitrogen fertilizers are under pressure due to the loss of Nitrogen to the environment. How can Soilgenic help to improve this issue? The Nitrogen industry is under pressure to improve the fertilizer use efficiency and to reduce environmental nutrient loss. Nitrogen efficiency is poor with up to 46% of Nitrogen lost to the environment. The 4Rs (Right Source, Right Rate, Right Time, and Right Place) provide a good guideline to improve nutrient use efficiency, but a significant part of the solution is to improve our fertilizer technologies. Above ground loss is easily managed with NBPT which is shown to be up to 96% effective in reducing volatilization losses for above ground applications. However, we also need to think about the below ground loss that can account for 70% of the Nitrogen loss. The corn image is a great visual of untreated nitrogen, above ground protection, below ground protection and a fully protected urea that have both above and below ground loss incorporated. The below ground loss contributes to a significant amount of N20 emissions that are 300X more potent than C02 emissions. Our NitroBlock™ Enhanced DCD significantly improves the below ground protection resulting in a 10X lower conversion to Nitrate nitrogen than commercial DCD. We are able to stabilize the Nitrogen in the Ammonium (NH4) form preventing the nitrogen from loss to leaching and denitrification.
Can you tell us about your phosphate EEF Technology? How does Phosgain work and what advantages does it bring to the market over other technologies? Our Phosgain™ Technology is a major enhancement technology for phosphate fertilizers. We can incorporate the Phosgain upstream at the manufacturing facility or downstream at retail distribution facilities. Our patent for our EEF technology creates a specific molecular weight for the polymer technology that allows the polymer to move with the phosphate and create a protective shield from strong cations such as Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium and Iron. The result is the phosphate remains protected and available to the plant much longer and increases the phosphate fertilizer availability and performance. Three years of trials has shown an average 17% crop yield increase with a 7-10X ROI with the Phosgain technology. The Phosgain technology will also help to free phosphate from the soil and works on all pH zones allowing for a wide spectrum of use globally.
I understand you are also looking at the broader sustainability picture with other Climate Smart Technologies. How does this fit into the Soilgenic model? What other technologies are in your R&D pipeline? Yes, we have several technologies that we are developing that also will enhance the soil microbiome and work with the plant to increase nutrient use efficiency. We think of fertilization and the soil health as a combined approach. If you improve fertilizer efficiency and the health of the soil, you are bringing the two together to work efficiently for providing the best outcome. Our technologies to enhance the soil microbiome are in development but will have a significant impact providing a low cost but highly efficient solution for improving the health of the soil. One technology is a low molecular weight Carbon technology that will work with the microbiome in the soil. The second technology is a silica Mesoporous Nanotechnology that is a unique patent that can encapsulate molecules and other ingredients that can be used in many ways. Uses would be seed coatings, fertilizer coatings, bio stimulants, CRF fertilizers, and pesticide molecule encapsulation to reduce pesticide use by up to 80%. We have also recently received a patent on a Biodegradable Polymer technology that will replace PE CRF technologies on the market. We are quite excited about this technology as it not only will degrade naturally to fertilizer in the soil, but is also a much lower cost of CRF technology to that available on the market today. Our R&D group continues to work on this technology and its development. Another technology that we are quite excited about falls into our Nitrogen EEF technology pipeline. The NBPT technology is typically produced in China and has been in very limited supply over the past year as EEF technologies increase globally. Our patent pending technology will allow us to produce the NBPT active ingredient more efficiently at a much lower cost than what’s provided today. The production footprint is more environmentally friendly and has a lower carbon footprint as a result. By producing the active ingredient locally, we also lower shipping costs and distribution challenges. The lower cost production technology will significantly improve the adoption by the industry and the use by farmers globally making fertilizers more efficient with a cost-effective solution. With the global fertilizer shortage and looming food supply crisis, we feel that Soilgenic is in the perfect spot to help the fertilizer industry to prevent a global crisis. With nitrogen fertilizer loss at 46% our EEF technologies can significantly reduce that loss and allow fertilizers to be more efficient and produce more food. While we look at today’s crisis, we also need to look at 2050 when the world will have 9.6 billion people and we need to increase food production by 50-70%. Soilgenic has the solutions and technologies to address this challenge. ●
Jeff Ivan, CEO, Soilgenic Technologies
We have one of the widest ranges of EEF technologies that provides a solution for all Nitrogen and Phosphate fertilizers.
The result is the phosphate remains protected and available to the plant much longer and increases the phosphate fertilizer availability and performance.
Amager incineration plant, Copenhagen, Denmark
At the New AG International annual conference and exhibition in Warsaw, Poland, in May 2022, the subject of SCRSFs returned with its own program. There was also a glimpse into the future with a slow-release fertilizer from recycled raw materials. Dr. Yariv Cohen, head of research and development with EasyMining presented the company’s plans.
Founded in 2007, EasyMining is the innovation arm of Ragn-Sells, a Swedish family-owned company specializing in recycling waste management with revenues of 7 billion SEK (USD$700 million) and 2,700 employees. EasyMining has about 40 employees in three locations – two in Sweden and one in Germany.
Ragn-Sells handles five million tonnes of waste per year except nuclear. “We are now working on new products from waste and our focus is on nutrients, to recover nutrients from waste,” said Cohen.
The company is working on four technologies: Ash2Phos, the main subject of the presentation, refers to recovery of phosphorus from fly ash of incinerated sewage sludge. Other technologies include Ash2Salt, a salt extraction method from fly ash and
that could extract around 3,500 tonnes per year (t/y) of potassium chloride, 7,000 t of sodium chloride and 32,000 t of calcium chloride; CleanMAP Energy efficient production of ammonium phosphate; and Project Nitrogen that involves the recovery of nitrogen in form of the ammonium sulphate from liquid waste streams.
Cohen said EasyMining is currently building a plant to recover salts from fly ash (see sidebar ‘On the Fly’). The plant will be able to handle around 130,000 t of fly ash per year, which is about half of the fly ash produced in Sweden, added Cohen.
In terms of the development of Ash2Phos and the recovery of phosphorus, the first plant is planned through a joint venture with Gelsenwasser Germany, aimed for 2024 start-up. Gelsenwasser AG is a German utilities company that supplies natural gas and fresh water to residents in Germany.
We are now working on new products from waste and our focus is on nutrients.
On the fly When waste is incinerated, different residues are created. There are two primary forms: incinerator bottom ash (IBA) and air pollution control residues (APC), which is also known as fly ash. As the name suggests, IBA is found at the bottom of the incinerator. It can be removed and recycled. APCs are the residues taken out of the fumes from the incineration process. The incineration will remove the ash in various stages, ensuring that only water vapour and CO2 are emitted from the factory. In March 2022, it was announced that Norway’s largest waste-to-energy plant at Klemetsrud will have CO2 capture technology installed by 2026, which will capture around 400,000 tonnes CO2 per year.
Increased levels of sludge incineration Sludge is produced from waste-water treatment, either from sewage or from industrial processes. Cohen gave a comparison of sludge incineration in Europe and observed that more sludge is being incinerated. Cohen offered three reasons for this – the first is logistics. If the distance is too large to transport to agriculture. If it contains too much water, then it is not worth transporting. Big cities often have too much sludge in one place, noted Cohen, and therefore it is not feasible to transport to agriculture. Second, in Denmark and Holland large amounts of animal manure are produced, resulting in a surplus of phosphorus and therefore no room for phosphorus from sewage sludge. Thirdly, in Switzerland and Germany because of a fear of heavy metals, plastics and disease, there is a ban on using sewage sludge. And for these reasons more sludge is incinerated.
Cohen said that incineration “opens” the way to recycle the phosphorus. This has three functions – the first is detoxification. When you burn sludge at 850 degrees C for two seconds, this destroys organics, pollutions, drug residues and pathogens. “Another bonus is you have an up concentration of phosphorus – from 0.8 percent in sewage sludge you go up to nine percent.”
If you include anion and cation of phosphate, around 50 percent of weight of ash is concentrated raw material. The only problem is the high concentration of heavy metals, iron and aluminium.
“When incinerated, you reduce weight and volume by 90 percent which makes it easier to transport,” said Cohen.
“We have developed a way to process the ash, separate the metals, and recover the phosphorus in clean form. It’s a wet chemical process; in the same way you digest rock phosphate with an acid, we digest the ash with an acid. The main chemicals that we use are acid and lime.
“We separate the heavy metal, and in the future, it will be possible to recycle the copper, nickel and zinc,” added Cohen. “We recycle the iron and aluminium as coagulants used in wastewater treatment. You add iron and aluminium in the wastewater plant to capture
phosphorus and they end up in ash, and if you extract them from ash, you can use them again. We recover phosphorus in clean form. And we get silicate residue that can be used in concrete application.”
As to the Schkopau plant, “we’re working with Gelsenwasser, which owns 65 waste plants. We’re working to build the first Ash2Phos plant in Schkopau.”
Gelsenwasser joint venture with EasyMining By way of background, EasyMining and Gelsenwasser announced 15 December 2021 the signing of an agreement for the creation of a joint company named Phosphorgewinnung Schkopau GmbH (PGS). “The objective of the joint venture is to build the world’s first phosphorus recovery plant based on the Ash2Phos technology,” the statement read.
According to Jan Svärd, CEO of EasyMining, cooperation across the value chain is key to circular transformation. “So, by creating this joint venture we can take advantage of our complementary knowledge and use a resource efficient technology to recover a scarce substance such as phosphorus.”
In 2018, EasyMining and Gelsenwasser signed a letter of intent, and in September 2020 the companies agreed to expand their cooperation with the primary goal to construct a major new facility for extracting phosphorus from incinerated sewage sludge.
“Overall, an expansion of capacities in Germany to 300,000 tons is planned within the next 10 years, and that is approximately half of the future sewage sludge ash volume in Germany,” the statement read.
Work in practice Cohen described how the plant will operate: ash will be brought to the plant by truck, and then blown into the plant. They have industrial supply to the building, and it’s located near wastewater. The main benefit of the incineration is the detoxification with more than 96 percent of heavy metals reduced. Cohen said it is the cleanest on the market today; clean compared to rock phosphate. The phosphorus is precipitated as calcium phosphate (PCP) with phosphorus content of 16.9 percent, equalling 40 percent P2O5. The fluorine content is very low, and it is feed quality PCP, said Cohen. He noted that legislation in EU does not allow feed that has origin in waste.
“This product is fully soluble in citric acid. But it is not water soluble,” noted Cohen, adding this gives it the slow-release potential. “We have made some agronomic assessments of this product. Since it is soluble in citric acid, we believe it is a good slow-release fertilizer; once the root finds its way to the product it can dissolve the product with the citric acid that the root exudes.”
EasyMining worked with a fertilizer company and looked at the dry matter yield of ryegrass. Compared with triple super phosphate (TSP), which is water soluble, the yield of the EasyMining PCP was 80 percent that achieved with TSP. “We believe it can be a slow-release fertilizer when granulated or mixed with other slow-release fertilizer. It is not acidic, so it’s good for neutral soils,” said Cohen.
He ended by outlining the possible pathways going forward – to provide a raw material to make fertilizer, and replace rock phosphate, but he said they believe it can find application as a final product that is recycled with slow-release properties. ●
We have developed a way to process the ash, separate the metals, and recover the phosphorus in clean form.
Photosynthesis has evolved in plants for millions of years to turn water, carbon dioxide, and the energy from sunlight into plant biomass and the foods we eat. This process, however, is very inefficient, with only about one
percent of the energy found in sunlight ending up in the plant.
Scientists at UC Riverside and the University of Delaware have found a way to bypass the need for biological photosynthesis altogether and create food independent of sunlight by using artificial photosynthesis.
The research, published in Nature Food, uses a two-step electrocatalytic process to convert carbon dioxide, electricity and water into acetate, the form of the main component of vinegar. Food-producing organisms then consume acetate in the dark to grow. Combined with solar panels to generate the electricity to power the electrocatalysis, this hybrid organic-
inorganic system could increase the conversion efficiency of sunlight into food, up to 18 times more efficient for some foods.
“With our approach we sought to identify a new way of producing food that could break through the limits normally imposed by biological photosynthesis,” said corresponding author Robert Jinkerson, a UC Riverside assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering.
In order to integrate all the components of the system together, the output of the electrolyzer was optimized to support the growth of food-producing organisms. Electrolyzers are devices that use electricity to convert raw materials
like carbon dioxide into useful molecules and products. The amount of acetate produced was increased while the amount of salt used was decreased, resulting in the highest levels of acetate ever produced in an electrolyzer to date.
“Using a state-of-the-art two-step tandem CO2 electrolysis setup developed in our laboratory, we were able to achieve a high selectivity towards acetate that cannot be accessed through conventional CO2 electrolysis routes,” said corresponding author Feng Jiao at University of Delaware.
Experiments showed that a wide range of food-producing organisms can be grown in the dark directly on the acetate-rich electrolyzer output, including green algae, yeast and fungal mycelium that produce mushrooms. Producing algae with this technology is approximately fourfold more energy efficient than growing it photosynthetically. Yeast production is about 18-fold more energy efficient than how it is typically cultivated using sugar extracted from corn.
“We were able to grow food-producing organisms without any contributions from biological photosynthesis. Typically, these organisms are cultivated on sugars derived from plants or inputs derived from petroleum – which is a product of biological photosynthesis that took place millions of years ago. This technology is a more efficient method of turning solar energy into food, as compared to food production that relies on biological photosynthesis,” said Elizabeth Hann, a doctoral candidate in the Jinkerson Lab and co-lead author of the study.
The potential for employing this technology to grow crop plants was also investigated. Cowpea, tomato, tobacco, rice, canola and green pea were all able to utilize carbon from acetate when cultivated in the dark.
“We found that a wide range of crops could take the acetate we provided and build it into the major molecular building blocks an organism needs to grow and thrive. With some breeding and engineering that we are currently working on we might be able to grow crops with acetate as an extra energy source to boost crop yields,” said Marcus Harland-Dunaway, a doctoral candidate in the Jinkerson Lab and co-lead author of the study.
“Using artificial photosynthesis approaches to produce food could be a paradigm shift for how we feed people. By increasing the efficiency of food production, less land is needed, lessening the impact agriculture has on the environment. And for agriculture in non-traditional environments, like outer space, the increased energy efficiency could help feed more crew members with less inputs,” added Jinkerson.
This approach to food production was submitted to NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge where it was a Phase I winner. The Deep Space Food Challenge is an international competition where prizes are awarded to teams to create novel and game-changing food technologies that require minimal inputs and maximize safe, nutritious and palatable food outputs for long-duration space missions.
“Imagine someday giant vessels growing tomato plants in the dark and on Mars—how much easier would that be for future Martians?” said co-author Martha Orozco-Cárdenas, director of the UC Riverside Plant Transformation Research Center.
Andres Narvaez, Dang Le, and Sean Overa also contributed to the research. ●
Plants are growing in complete darkness in an acetate medium that replaces biological photosynthesis.
Photo: Marcus Harland-Dunaway/UCR
A suitcase-sized diagnostic tool that draws on knowledge from the medical industry is helping crop researchers tackle the pathogens that cause Botrytis grey mould on chickpeas and other pulses.
Biosensors that use functionalized magnetic gold nanoparticles have recently been developed to detect cancer biomarkers with extreme specificity, sensitivity and accuracy. When adapted to the grains industry, these biosensors can accurately diagnose Botrytis-causing fungi in crops in the field in 45 minutes.
Professor Rebecca Ford and her team at Australia’s Griffith University have partnered with the experts behind the diagnostic tool, also at Griffith University and part of the Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, to develop the Botrytis biosensor.
The goal was to adopt this diagnostic approach to detect and quantify plant pathogens. The two Botrytis spp. were used as case studies. In Australia, Botrytis grey mould on temperate pulse crops is caused mainly by Botrytis cinerea and B. fabae, which infect the crop either separately or as a complex.
The diagnostic process occurs via two steps. In step one, target Botrytis spp. DNA are magnetically isolated and purified. In step two, the target DNA is electrochemically detected and quantified.
The tool was successfully tested to diagnose B. cinerea in lentil trials at the South Australian Research and Development Institute terrace site, at the Waite campus in Adelaide, and on faba bean leaf samples taken from crops at four field sites in south-eastern South Australia (Millicent, Bool Lagoon, Frances and Mundulla) in October 2020.
Ford said single spores of B. cinerea and B. fabae from symptomatic and asymptomatic leaves were detected. “This demonstrates its ability to detect and quantify the causative organisms prior to the visible appearance of the disease on plants. It is proving to be more sensitive than other published diagnostic methods for both species.”
Not only is it highly sensitive, quantifiable and species-specific to each of B. cinerea or B. fabae, but the tool is also fast and cost-effective. The process from sample collection to result is about 45 minutes and costs less than $2 per sample.
The tools developed and protocols validated are open for commercialization. ●
The two-step process for the electrochemical detection of Botrytis spp. from leaf samples. (A) shows the magnetic isolation and purification of target Botrytis spp. DNA. (B) shows the electrochemical detection and quantification of the adsorbed target single strand DNA.
Source: Marzia Bilkiss, PhD thesis, Griffith University
Penn State and U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists have used cutting-edge CRISPR/Cas technology to develop a diagnostic test that could enable early diagnosis of citrus greening, or Huanglongbing (HLB), a serious disease that threatens worldwide citrus production.
In a study newly published in the journal Phytopathology, the researchers demonstrated that the new assay can detect the presence of the disease's causal agent – the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, abbreviated as CLas – at a sensitivity level 100 to 1,000 times greater than a commonly used diagnostic test, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, or qPCR.
Citrus greening was described in Asia more than a century ago and reached Florida in 2005. Since then, the disease has decimated that state's orange crop, reducing production by more than 70 percent. The pathogen also has spread to Texas, California, Georgia and Louisiana.
Spread by the Asian citrus psyllid or the grafting of infected tissues, CLas does not harm people or animals, but once a citrus tree is infected, there is no cure for the disease. Most infected trees die within a few years.
Scientists say the best hope of reducing the spread of citrus greening is to eliminate diseased trees quickly. As a result, early detection of the pathogen is crucial because infected trees can act as a disease reservoir for months or years before showing visible symptoms.
To address the need for early diagnosis, researchers deployed CRISPR/Cas, a gene-editing technology that recently has been adapted as a molecular diagnostic tool, noted study co-author Yinong Yang, professor of plant pathology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
"So far, various technologies, such as canine olfactory detection and qPCR, have been used to diagnose and confirm CLas infection," said Yang, who also is affiliated with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. "But these tools are often inadequate for early detection of CLas in asymptomatic tissue – where low amounts of bacteria are present – and are unsuitable for high-throughput diagnosis in the field."
CRISPR technology can modify an organism's genome by precisely delivering a DNA-cutting enzyme – Cas – to a targeted region of DNA. The resulting modification can delete or replace specific DNA pieces, thereby promoting or disabling certain traits. CRISPR/Cas has many potential biomedical and agricultural applications, such as treating genetic diseases or developing hardier crops.
The researchers adapted the CRISPR/Cas system to develop an assay based on a platform known as DETECTR, which stands for DNA endonuclease-targeted CRISPR trans reporter. In this assay, a Cas variant called Cas12a is mixed with CRISPR RNA designed to seek out CLas DNA, and a synthetic molecule known as a fluorescent reporter oligonucleotide. If CLas DNA is present, the Cas12a cleaves both the pathogen's DNA and the reporter oligonucleotide, enabling the generation of a fluorescent signal for detection.
The researchers report this assay was highly sensitive and specific in detecting CLas DNA, using either a microplate reader for fluorescence readouts or a lateral flow strip for a visual result indicating the presence of a target sequence. "The assay successfully detected and confirmed the presence of CLas nucleic acids in infected samples collected from Florida," said study lead author Matthew Wheatley, postdoctoral scholar in plant pathology and environmental microbiology, Penn State.
"We tested DNA samples from infected sweet orange, pomelo, grapefruit and periwinkle and from the citrus psyllid vector, as well as from uninfected grapefruit and psyllid samples as negative controls," added Wheatley. "The CLas DETECTR assay confirmed that all infected samples were positive for CLas compared to the negative controls. Interestingly, two grapefruit DNA samples that previously tested CLas negative using a qPCR test showed weak positivity for CLas in the DETECTR assay."
Yang pointed out that the DETECTR assay's compatibility with lateral flow technology holds promise for providing rapid and economical testing for HLB in the field. "These results show that CRISPR/Cas-based detection strategies have the capability to improve upon current diagnostics of citrus greening by providing specific and highly sensitive detection of CLas nucleic acids," he said. "The improvement in detection sensitivity and ease of use compared to traditional methodologies like qPCR position the CLas DETECTR assay as a promising tool for HLB diagnostics in regions where the CLas pathogen occurs."
Yong-Ping Duan, research plant pathologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, Florida, was also a member of the research team. ●
A Penn State-led team of scientists has developed a diagnostic test for early detection of citrus greening.
Photo: David Bartels, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
GREENCube is the first space vegetable garden experiment launched into orbit with the maiden flight of the European Space Agency's (ESA) new VEGA-C launcher from the Kourou base in French Guiana, together with the LARES2 scientific satellite and five other nano-satellites.
The micro vegetable garden measuring 30 x 10 x 10 centimetres was designed by an all-Italian scientific team consisting of ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), the Federico II University of Naples and Sapienza University of Rome, in the role of coordinator and contractor with the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
Based on closed-loop hydroponics and equipped with specific lighting, temperature and humidity control systems to meet the restrictive requirements of space environments, GREENCube is able to guarantee a complete growth cycle of micro-vegetables selected from among the most suitable to withstand extreme conditions – in this case watercress – at high productivity, for 20 days of experiments.
Housed in a pressurized, confined environment, GREENCube is also equipped with an integrated hi-tech sensor system for remote monitoring and control of environmental parameters, growth and plant health, and will transmit all acquired data to the ground in total autonomy. The satellite consists of two units: the first contains the micro-vegetables, the cultivation and environmental control system, the nutrient solution, the necessary atmosphere and the sensors; the second unit houses the spacecraft's management and control platform.
“Space research is focusing on the development of bio-regenerative systems to support life in space. Plants play a key role as a source of fresh food to supplement pre-packaged food rations and ensure a balanced nutritional intake, which is essential for human survival in harsh environmental conditions,” explained Luca Nardi of the ENEA Biotechnology Laboratory. "Small soil-less cultivation systems such as the GREENCube can play a key role in meeting the crew's food needs, minimizing operating time and avoiding contamination thanks to the automated control of environmental conditions.”
The in-orbit cultivation system will maximize efficiency in terms of both volume and consumption of energy, air, water and nutrients, and parallel ground cultivation experiments inside an exact replica of the satellite are also planned during the mission to test the effects of radiation, low pressure and microgravity on plants.
The comparison of the results of experiments carried out in space and on the ground will be crucial to assessing the response of plants to extreme stress conditions and the growth of microgreens in orbit in order to use them as fresh, highly nutritious food on future missions.
"In addition to their ability to convert carbon dioxide into edible biomass, plants are able to regenerate valuable resources such as air, water and mineral nutrients," noted Nardi, "but also not to be underestimated is the psychological benefit for the crew deriving from the cultivation and consumption of fresh vegetables that recall the familiarity of terrestrial habits and environments to cope with the psychological stress the astronauts are subjected to due to the conditions of isolation in a totally artificial environment.” ●
At the cytogenomics laboratory of the ENEA Casaccia centre, researchers analyze plants after a test of growth in the cubesat. Pictured is the base and seedling in the foreground.
Photo: ENEA
Germany’s potash giant K+S and Swedish company Cinis Fertilizer have agreed a cooperation deal on potassium sulphate (SOP).
Under the Letter of Intent (LOI), K+S will supply Cinis Fertilizer with its entire annual potassium chloride (MOP) requirements. “In return, K+S could purchase up to 600,000 tonnes of potassium sulphate per year from Cinis Fertilizer,” said K+S in its statement.
“The agreement fits perfectly with our new corporate strategy, which includes the expansion of our core business through cooperation,” said Dr. Burkhard Lohr, K+S chairman of the board of executive directors. “As a result, K+S will secure additional quantities of the specialty fertilizer potassium sulphate.”
K+S already produces SOP itself, around 800,000 tonnes per year through primary production.
“Cinis Fertilizer is planning the synthetic production of potassium sulphate in the so-called Glaserite process at several production sites in Scandinavia,” the statement from K+S said. “In addition to potassium chloride supplied by K+S, the company will use residues from battery, pulp and paper production as raw material and renewable energy. Sodium chloride (salt) is also generated as a byproduct in the production of potassium sulphate.”
In March 2019, K+S entered into an agreement with the Australian company, Kalium Lakes, for the purchase of up to 90,000 tonnes of SOP per year.
Cinis Fertilizer's CEO Jakob Liedberg told New AG International: “We are very happy to announce the LOI with K+S for our future supply that is planned to be in full production in 2028 and believe this further supports our mission to produce a fossil free SOP.”
Liedberg confirmed to New AG International that Cinis has an exclusive offtake with Van Iperen for all its SOP from plant 1 and plant 2. The LOI regarding SOP with K+S is for plants 3 and 4, starting from 2026, and New AG International understands these plants will not be in full production until 2028. Plant 1 (and 2) is expected to be onstream as of late 2023 or early 2024.
According to K+S’s 2021 annual report, the company had total sales volume of 7.6 million tonnes, up from 7.3 million tonnes in 2020. ●
