D.M. (Dorien) Kool: “The origin of nitrous oxide (laughing gas): a serious matter”

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17 Sep 2010 16:00
Unit: Wageningen University
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Organisation: Wageningen University
Promotor: prof.dr.ir. O. Oenema (Nutrient Flows and Manuring)
Co Promotor: Dr.ir. J.W. van Groenigen, Dr. N. Wrage (University of Gottingen, Germany)

 Nitrous oxide is one of the most important greenhouse gases, and soils are globally the main source of nitrous oxide to our atmosphere. It is therefore of great importance to understand how nitrous oxide is formed in soils, and how to reduce emissions to our atmosphere. This serious matter was the exciting topic of Dorien Kool’s PhD research. She demonstrated for the first time that the production of nitrous oxide in soil could, next to already familiar pathways, take place via the unique pathway of ‘nitrifier denitrification’. She was able to do so by studying the oxygen atom of the nitrous oxide, and the ‘isotope composition’ of this atom in particular. Explicitly innovative to her approach was that she quantified the exchange of oxygen atoms of water during the production of nitrous oxide for the first time. The results of her research will provide a better understanding of this process of oxygen exchange as well as the production of nitrous oxide. This is key to ultimately enable the reduction of nitrous oxide emissions to our atmosphere.
Title thesis: "On the origin of nitrous oxide and its oxygen"
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