AAPlasma LLC is pleased to announce that it is a subcontractor on a new research grant awarded by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) to Drexel University’s Nyheim Plasma Institute. The project, Improving the Fertilizer Quality of Anaerobic Digestates via Cold Plasma, received $199,976 as one of 17 agricultural research grants, totaling $2.2 million, announced by the Shapiro Administration in January 2026.
The challenge: nitrogen lost to the air
Anaerobic digesters on dairy and swine farms convert manure into biogas, leaving behind a nutrient-rich liquid called digestate that farmers apply to fields as fertilizer. Because digestate is alkaline, a large share of its nitrogen escapes into the atmosphere as ammonia before it can reach crops. That loss reduces the fertilizer value of the material and contributes to air-quality concerns. By some estimates, the reactive nitrogen lost from these waste streams is equivalent to a substantial fraction of the world’s annual synthetic fertilizer production.
The approach: acidifying digestate with plasma
The team will treat the liquid fraction of cattle and swine digestate with a non-thermal gliding arc discharge (GAD) plasma. The plasma acidifies the digestate, which keeps more of its nitrogen in solution and cuts ammonia emissions. Conventional acidification relies on purchased mineral acids; a gliding arc generates the acidifying species on site from air and electricity, without excessive heating, which makes it a promising candidate for sustainable, scalable on-farm use.
The researchers will evaluate how energy-efficiently the gliding arc process reduces ammonia emissions and increases the nitrogen content of the treated digestate.
The team
The project is led by researchers at Drexel University’s Nyheim Plasma Institute: Drs. Christopher Sales, Jinjie He, Mobish Shaji, Alexander Rabinovich, and Alexander Fridman. As a subcontractor, AAPlasma brings its experience in designing and building gliding arc plasma systems for environmental applications.
Learn more
- Nyheim Plasma Institute announcement (Drexel University)
- Shapiro Administration invests $2.2 million in agricultural research (Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture)