An Iowa State University research team that helped develop a demonstration-scale pyrolyzer capable of sequestering thousands of tons of carbon dioxide a year has received a prestigious milestone award from XPRIZE Carbon Removal, it was announced on Friday. The milestone prize provides $1 million to the carbon removal team at the Bioeconomy Institute to help…

A research project by Iowa State University soil scientists provides new insight into the complex picture of phosphorus loss from farmland and evidence proving phosphorus runoff is often underestimated. One of the project’s primary objectives was to determine how much dissolved phosphorus (P) in surface runoff may not be accurately measured by common methods. The…

Heat up stalks, stems, leaves or wood in a reactor with little or no oxygen (in a process called pyrolysis) and you get bio-oil for fuel and biochar for fertilizer. There’s always a market and a value for the liquid energy. But efforts to study, develop and market the black powder as a fertilizer weren’t adding…

A recent ecosystem modeling study conducted by Iowa State University scientists shows how crop production in the United States has led to an increase in the emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, throughout the last century. The researchers drew on massive amounts of data on everything from weather patterns to soil conditions to…

This is the latest entry in a series of articles telling the personal stories of Iowa State University faculty and scientists whose work is changing the world for the better. Click here for the complete list of Change Agents. Birds captured Adam Janke’s imagination years ago. Janke recalls how he and his brother fashioned their own makeshift…

Methane, which produces more warming than other greenhouse gases and is the subject of newly announced U.S. emission restrictions, is hard to break down and keep out of the atmosphere. It’s not that the primary component of natural gas is chemically complex. A methane molecule is just one carbon atom and four hydrogens. But those…

Poorly drained agricultural soils emit enough of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide that the resulting climate change effects could far exceed the benefits of using the same soils as a means of sequestering carbon, according to a recently published scientific study. The study, published Monday in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of…

This is the latest entry in a series of articles telling the personal stories of Iowa State University faculty and scientists whose work is changing the world for the better. Click here for the complete list of Change Agents.It looks like the risks are paying off. Lisa Schulte Moore, a professor of natural resource ecology and management…

Chemicals used to “grease proof” everything from food packaging to carpets have built up in the environment for decades and contaminate ecosystems across the globe, and a new study is calling for a better understanding of the risks posed by these chemicals. The study, published in the academic journal Trends in Food Science & Technology, collects…

A team led by Iowa State University researchers will expand and revamp an electronic toolbox designed to help farmers and landowners identify the conservation practices best suited for their land. The team received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to add to and expand the Agricultural Conservation…