Team IO+ selects and features the most important news stories on innovation and technology, carefully curated by our editors.
OnePlanet Research Center (a collaboration between Wageningen University & Research, Radboud University, Radboudumc, and imec) has developed photonic chip technology for nitrogen measurements. The new measurement technology should make it possible to measure nitrogen concentrations in an affordable and reliable way continuously. This will enable farmers to get a grip on nitrogen emissions on their farms and thus control the amount of emissions.
Target-based control is a much-discussed method in the nitrogen debate. Instead of prescribing the means to achieve lower emissions, a maximum emission level is set as a target, and the entrepreneur is free to decide how to achieve it. Sensor systems that measure continuously give farmers immediate insight into their emissions. They show whether specific adjustments are having an effect. Farmers can then make adjustments accordingly. To date, there are no affordable and reliable measurement systems that make this possible for the different types of livestock housing. This is particularly challenging for open housing, where the concentrations to be measured are lower.
Photonic chips
Based on the latest photonic chip technology from the imec research center, OnePlanet is developing sensor systems to reliably measure low concentrations of nitrogen with support from PhotonDelta and the province of Gelderland. This brings goal-oriented management a step closer. Photonics is a proven measurement technique. Most reference equipment is also light-based (photonic), but too expensive and too large to be used in every barn or on every farmyard. Thanks to miniaturization on the chip, OnePlanet can now make this technology affordable and scalable.
Measuring more than just nitrogen
In addition to measuring nitrogen and methane, other climate-relevant greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide and CO2, and even odors and nitrate in water, can also be measured. This will enable farmers to perform multiple measurements with a single sensor system, view the measurement data immediately, and link their emissions to their actions.
Forty-two percent of the nitrogen-sensitive nature in the Netherlands is located in the province of Gelderland. It is therefore not surprising that this research was started in this province. Thanks in part to the support of the province of Gelderland, OnePlanet has been able to invest heavily in research into the application of these photonic sensors for the agricultural sector in recent years.