Can straw be combined with water and electricity? Circular carbon sequestration greenhouse is very smart

Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao HanbinIn the mountainous areas of southwestern China, many rural areas are characterized by poor soil quality, lack of water resources, and varying degrees of pollution. At the same time, although extensive rural power networks have been established in various regions, the tight situation of some remote village groups and farmers' "power grid ends" has not yet been fully alleviated

Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao Hanbin

In the mountainous areas of southwestern China, many rural areas are characterized by poor soil quality, lack of water resources, and varying degrees of pollution. At the same time, although extensive rural power networks have been established in various regions, the tight situation of some remote village groups and farmers' "power grid ends" has not yet been fully alleviated.

"How scientific research can help rural revitalization with practical actions" is a question that has been lingering in the minds of the team of the Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Materials and Technology of Yunnan University led by Wan Yanfen, a professor of the School of Materials and Energy. In view of the situation of Yunnan Province and the reality of mountainous areas, the Lvyuan functional materials team of Yunnan University, affiliated to the laboratory, has carried out a lasting exploration.

Recently, they used crop straw as raw material, carbonized it to prepare photothermal materials, and through triple biomimetic design, developed a clean energy device for hydropower generation, and built a smart greenhouse for circular carbon fixation.

Innovative Utilization of Straw to Participate in Hydroelectric Power Generation

According to data from the Environmental Resources Department of the Agriculture and Rural Department of Yunnan Province, in 2021, the theoretical amount of straw resources in Yunnan Province was 19.7208 million tons, with a collectable amount of 17.6391 million tons. The straw mainly comes from corn, rice, sugarcane, rapeseed, wheat, potatoes, etc., especially with a huge space for the utilization of corn, rice, and sugarcane straw.

In some rural areas, there are still problems such as extensive production, high non-point source pollution, difficult treatment of agricultural waste, high costs of pesticides and fertilizers, and low crop yields.

Based on the discipline's strengths, focusing on the reuse of agricultural waste is the focus of the research team's commitment to green development and promoting rural revitalization, "said Wan Yanfen, who has turned their attention to clean energy.

In recent years, with the advancement of nanomaterial research, it has been found that some carbon materials exhibit a series of new electrical effects when interacting with liquids, such as wave induced electricity, droplet induced electricity, evaporation induced electricity, humidity induced electricity, etc. These phenomena are collectively referred to as the water voltage effect. This new power generation effect opens up a new way for the development of new Energy development.

"Our innovation lies in 'hydropower generation'." Zhao Rong, the Team leader of Lvyuan Functional Materials and a graduate student of Yunnan University, introduced that this device mainly uses biomass carbon after straw carbonization as the coating material. This type of biochar is a graphite material that is easily coupled with water on the surface, allowing water to penetrate through the nanochannels of the material in a targeted manner. Due to electrostatic interactions, positive and negative charges in the water are separated, resulting in potential differences between upstream and downstream, resulting in voltage generation.

At the same time, under the sunlight, this hydropower cogeneration device can convert agricultural wastewater into clean Farm water, and the removal rate of heavy metal ions is up to 92%, solving the problem of difficult treatment of agricultural wastewater and the shortage of water resources in some areas.

Pioneering smart greenhouse plant diagnosis and treatment platform

The Lvyuan Functional Materials Team of Yunnan University was established in September 2016. Its members are dozens of graduate students from Yunnan University in the fields of materials and chemical engineering, new energy, information technology, biological science, financial management, Visual communication and other multi-disciplinary fields. It is a well-known technical team with strong strength and professionalism in the province's youth innovation field.

This young team utilizes the concept of generating electricity from water, purifying water and generating electricity, reducing pollution and saving energy. Through the support of solar and hydroelectric power generation devices, a circular carbon fixation smart greenhouse is built to provide precise care for crops. Wan Yanfen said that this can increase crop yield, increase economic benefits, and assist in rural revitalization.

Previously, they made a full investigation and found that the smart greenhouses for planting flowers and vegetables in Yunnan were mostly able to only monitor the temperature and humidity of the environment in the greenhouses, with high construction costs, high carbon emissions but low intelligence.

In response to these pain points, we think why not use crop straw as raw material to prepare a set of hydroelectric power generation devices, use solar energy to clean energy, purify agricultural wastewater, and provide power to the greenhouse? The concept of precise cultivation of circular carbon fixation smart greenhouse was born from this. "Team member Luo Hongyao said.

The team originally prepared flexible sensor pieces for the first time, which is an integrated platform for monitoring the gas, temperature and humidity of the plant microenvironment. Through information technology, the data is collected at the back end to achieve real-time monitoring of plant diseases and pests, achieve Pest control, increase crop yield and other purposes.

"We cooperated with the College of Ecology and Environment of Yunnan University to open up a tomato planting park and carried out a series of experiments." Wang Kexue, a team member, said that by adhering flexible sensor patches to tomato leaves in different states, they found that the microenvironment humidity and gas release of diseased leaves were significantly different from those of normal leaves.

It turns out that when diseases and pests occur, the stomatal Cellular respiration of the eroded leaves is significantly reduced, the stomatal opening and closing state is poor, and the amount of water and gas release is significantly reduced. Based on this, the research team can diagnose in advance that the plant is suffering from pests and diseases. At this point, we can intervene manually to reduce the occurrence of pests, "said Wang Xuexue. Based on this study, it has been proven that the circular carbon sequestration plant diagnosis and treatment greenhouse is successful and feasible. The team has integrated various core technologies and successfully constructed an integrated greenhouse monitoring system for plant diagnosis and treatment through water and electricity generation.

It is reported that this is the first patented plant diagnosis and treatment platform in China. Through a water and electricity cogeneration device, it not only provides monitoring equipment and electricity for remote and unsuitable greenhouses, but also timely controls temperature and water, accurately releases pesticides and fertilizers, and provides careful care for crops, in order to achieve automation and intelligence of greenhouses, reduce agricultural waste pollution, and increase economic benefits, Assist in promoting low-carbon agriculture and achieving the goals of rural revitalization.

In the past two years, a series of college student innovation and entrepreneurship projects based on this research have won the third prize of the 16th National College Student Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Social Practice and Technology Competition, the third prize of the first China Graduate "Double Carbon" Innovation and Creativity Competition, and many awards such as the "Creating Youth" China Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project Support Plan Climbing Plan hosted by the Central Committee of the Youth League.

Implementation of technological achievements to promote green development

In addition to the policy advantages and technological advantages of "dual carbon", cost advantages are more attractive to farmers. Hydroelectric power generation and smart greenhouses can not only save manpower and resources, increase production, and increase economic benefits. It can reduce environmental pollution in all aspects of production, promote rural development, and help achieve the goal of "green and beautiful countryside".

The raw material for coating materials is straw purchased from farmers, which costs about 0.6 yuan per kilogram. Other commonly used chemical raw materials are purchased from online channels, and the overall cost is lower than various sensors on the market. "Luo Hongyao introduced that the product is mainly aimed at mountainous and rural areas where solar energy resources are abundant and electricity is scarce. Currently, the device is in the promotion stage, with a price of only 350 yuan per set. This type of area has a large agricultural area, but its level of intelligence is low. It urgently needs technological support to improve agricultural production levels and farmers' living conditions.

At present, the team has received financial support from the China Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation, signed a letter of intent with Zhuangke Village, Fengyi Town, Dali City City, Yunnan Province and Tuanjie Village, Yunlong County to provide 750 sets of hydropower joint generation devices and financial and technical guidance, solve the problem of local agricultural waste treatment and power consumption, and jointly build beautiful villages.

At present, this team is also collaborating with the Yunnan Yunshang Town Innovation and Entrepreneurship Platform to incubate project industries and complete the industrial and commercial registration procedures for "Straw Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Kunming) Co., Ltd.".

"Of course, we also face many difficulties in innovation and entrepreneurship." Zhao Rong, the Team leader, said that the main reasons are that there are risks and difficulties in the early promotion and production, the market share is still uncertain, and the protection of technology and product intellectual property rights, so as to avoid being imitated or even replaced.

The implementation of this smart agricultural system will play a crucial role in the Southwest Rural Revitalization Strategy. By adopting advanced technological means and innovative agricultural models, it will be conducive to promoting rural environmental improvement and sustainable development, "said Wan Yanfen.

In the later stage, the team will continue to exert efforts, continuously achieve technological iteration, and proactively respond to the challenges in the field of smart agriculture. To this end, they have engaged in deep cooperation with universities and enterprises, jointly exploring innovative solutions, and promoting the integration of industry and education. Through this close cooperation, we gather various forces, fully leverage our respective advantages, and gradually develop into a leading enterprise in the field of smart agriculture guided by national standards.

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