Research Develops ‘Greener ’ Method Of Making Fertilizer
ALFRED, N.Y. It is iron
ic that fertilizers that provide
the nutrients necessary for
plant growth sometimes pol
lute the environment and de
plete natural resources. But a
new method of producing
phosphate fertilizers, patented
by an Alfred University re
searcher, may help solve some
of those problems.
Dr. Alan Goldstein, the Rer
er Professor of Biology and as
sociate director of the biomedi
cal materials engineering sci
ences program at Alfred
University, has developed
technology he says “has the po
tential to revolutionize phos
phate fertilizer technology by
providing an environmentally
safe, slow-release method of
delivering elemental phosphate
to crop plants.”
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Phosphorus is second only
to nitrogen as an essential inor
ganic plant nutrient, Goldstein
explains, making it the world’s
second largest agricultural
chemical product. Unfortun
ately, current fertilizers are
“wet-processed, meaning that
concentrated sulfuric acid is
used to extract phosphoric acid
from rock phosphate ore.
“This technology is both
energy-intensive (one percent
of the total energy consumed in
the U.S. today is used to smelt
phosphate ore) and environ
mentally polluting,” said Gold
stein.
In research funded by the
U.S. Department of Energy,
Goldstein and his colleagues at
the Idaho National Engineering
& Environmental Laboratory
have developed and patented a
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new type of fertilizer that uses
bacteria to “bioprocess” raw
phosphate ore into fertilizer P
(phosphate) right in the soil.
Rather than using electricity,
the energy for the bioprocess
can come from waste biomass
(cellulose from old newspapers
or agricultural processing by
products). As the bacteria grow
inside the pellet, they use the
cellulose as their energy sour
ce, first converting the cellu
lose to glucose and then con
verting the glucose to 2-keto
gluconic acid, one of the
strongest naturally occurring
organic acids, Goldstein ex
plains. The acid, in turn, releas
es soluble phosphate from the
ore and this soluble phosphate
diffuses out of the pellet to the
plant root.
“In addition to saving encr-
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Grower and Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 11, 1999—Page
gy and alleviating the pollution
produced by current industrial
processing the pellet will re
lease soluble phosphate slow
ly, because it’s controlled by
the growth rate of the bacter
ia,” said Goldstein.
Right now, in order to en
sure that plants get enough
phosphate, farmers are often
forced to apply excess fertilizer
because the phosphate salts in
them are highly water soluble,
meaning they are easily wash
ed away from the plant roots.
When that happens, the excess
phosphate salts either repreci
pitate in the soil or move with
ground or surface water, end
ing up in streams and lakes.
This, in turn, causes eutrophi
cation. or overgrowth of algae
that destroys wetlands and
other ecosystems.
I * *
|V 5 -•
While there are no immedi
ate plans to produce biopellets
on a commercial basis, a major
agricultural chemical company
continues to fund development
work at Alfred University.
Goldstein said he believes the
growing demand for sustain
able agriculture will ultimately
make the biopellets a viable
technology.
“During the past 40 years,
nearly one-third of the world’s
arable land has been lost by
erosion,” said Goldstein, “and
fertilizer run-off from mid
western farming has contribut
ed to what may be the world’s
largest oceanic ‘dead zone’ in
the Gulf of Mexico.”
The National Re
search Council has is
sued two reports in
the past 10 years
warning that we must
develop new sustain
able agricultural tech
nologies. Sustainable
agriculture, which
protects and preserves
the world’s natural re
sources while allow
ing it to grow the food
necessary to support
human and animal
life, is inevitable,
Goldstein believes.
“This must be the next
Green Revolution,”
he says “and the tech
nology we are devel
oping here at Alfred
University will ulti
mately play an essen
tial role.”
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