Requiem for a Stream:
From Ammonia Pollution to Energy Production via Denitrification

Our project removes ammonia from waste water, and via two E. coli mutants turns it into nitrous oxide.

Ammonia is a common pollutant in agricultural runoff, and excess ammonia in the environment leads to increased algae growth and eutrophication, which 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 sold as an industrial product or reclaimed and used as a source of small scale sustainable energy.

For more information on the mutants, please see project details, and for information on the experiments we did to characterize the mutants, see an overview of the experiments we conducted. Also be sure to check out our online lab notebook, and the human practices events that we hosted.