Greening the Phosphorus Cycle
Industrial and laboratory methods for incorporating phosphorus atoms into molecules within the framework of Green Chemistry are in their infancy. Current practice requires large inputs of energy, involves toxic intermediates, and generates substantial waste. Furthermore, a negligible fraction of phosphorus-containing waste is recycled which in turn contributes to negative environmental impacts, such as eutrophication. Methods that begin to address some of these drawbacks are targeted in this project as opportunities for basic science advances. Key opportunities to be realized by pursuing phosphorus chemistry under the principles of Green Chemistry are being pursued as novel lines of inquiry. Methods used by nature, or in the chemistry of other elements such as silicon, are being developed in this project as model processes for the future of phosphorus in chemical synthesis, technology, industry, and agriculture.
This project is actually comprised of two separate, but intimately complementary projects—Thermoochemical, Mechanochemical and Biological Approaches (Cummins) and Electrochemical Approaches (Surendranath)—that grew out of our first UMRP Project Sustainable Upgrading of Phosphate Rock to Commodity Chemicals (2017-2022), which we pursued jointly. The overarching goal of our ongoing effort is to eliminate the need for expensive and dirty production of pure white phosphorus in the production of value-added phosphorus chemicals, instead achieving these compounds from the phosphoric acid of fertilizer production and even directly from phosphate rock, as well as from phosphate-rich waste streams that otherwise pollute the environment. We are also pursuing both electrochemical and biological methods for eliminating heavy metals contamination from phosphates.
UM6P Project team
Professor Rachid Benhida