Our project simultaneously cleans and reclaims energy from waste water streams by using two E. coli mutants to turn ammonia into nitrous oxide.

Industrial processes have greatly increased the amount of fixed nitrogen, leading to an excess of ammonia in the environment. Ammonia is a common pollutant in agricultural runoff, and excess in the environment leads to increased algae growth (eutrophication) that potentially starves other water-borne organisms for oxygen. Our project reverses nitrogen fixation, and is a means to clean up polluted streams and wastewater. The final product is nitrous oxide, which can be reclaimed and used as a fuel source. In effect, we are turning pollution into energy.