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Pulling fertilizer out of thin air with solar
power
Nitricity has put together an experimental plasma reactor that uses
solar electricity to produce competitively priced, environmentally
clean, nitrogen fertilizer. Their onsite fertilizer production
eliminates emissions from transporting fertilizers, and provides a
viable alternative to fossil consuming nitrogen fixation methods like
the Haber-Bosch process.
January 18, 2022
John Fitzgerald Weaver
Image: Nitricity
Nitricity is using solar electricity to extract nitrogen directly from
our air to produce nitric acid, the most critical nutrient in
fertilizer that plants use to grow everything we humans eat. The key
features of the company’s product are the decarbonization,
decentralization, and privatization of fertilizer manufacturing, made
possible by affordable, off-grid, intermittent solar electricity.
Process
The company installed its first commercial project in
October of 2021. The off-grid solar power system is
composed of 144 solar panels, though details describing the solar
hardware were scant.
On their website, Nitricity shares an
experimental report on their pilot project in Fresno,
California. The initial installation’s solar system was a 16-panel
ground-mount array that outputted 75-85 V with a maximum power of 2.4
kW.
The installation was coupled directly with a sub-surface irrigation
system used to fertigate a tomato crop. The paper covers the apparent
success of their hardware, which produced tomatoes in a volume and
quality that were similar to the control tomatoes. (The control
tomatoes received a standard, industrially produced nitrogen
fertilizer.)
Pilot project
Nitricty believes that their product will fill several niches. Because
the system is easily distributed, farmers located far from fertilizer
manufacturing centers will have additional financial incentive to try
out the new technology.
Nitricity’s process directly competes with industrial ammonia
production – a process which directly creates more CO2
than any other human driven chemical process on earth. The
primary feedstock for modern nitrogen fixation is natural gas. The
processing of the gas into ammonia releases these emissions. The
chemical process emissions are only part of the story, as the
emissions released from the fossil fuels traditionally used to heat
and sustain the reaction are also excessive.
In its favor, the Haber-Bosch process was largely responsible for the
Green Revolution of the middle 1900s, which helped catapult the global
population. It is estimated that nearly
half of all nitrogen currently found in human tissue was
produced using this process.
Additionally, Niticity’s distributed, localized nitrogen solution also
avoids transportation emissions. The company points out that market
inefficiencies related to the distribution process of fossil-sourced
nitrogen fertilizers can increase a farmer’s fertilizer cost as much
as two to five times above the costs at a factory. Fossil-based
fertilizer production costs are also volatile due to their direct
relationship with natural gas – which, as mentioned earlier, supplies
the primary feedstock for industrial ammonia.
Project results
In December, the US Department of Energy’s
ARPA Energy awarded the group $500,000 to advance their
“non-thermal plasma reactor” process. ARPA notes that, “literature and
modeling analysis suggest that an energy efficiency ten times better
than present plasma values and equal to or better than that of the
conventional Haber-Bosch process could be achieved”.
In
an interview with Agrifood Conversations, the company noted
that the intermittent nature of solar power is not only easily
managed, but is actually a desired trait. According to one of
Nitricity’s founders, Nicolas Pinkowski, the process “operates better
intermittently. Because we manufacture nitrates (NO3-), there is a lot
of oxygen to transport per lb of nitrogen”. Nitricity uses a 200
gallon tank to store the product prior to it being applied to the
tomatoes.
In August of 2021, the company raised $5 million. Recently, Nitricity
announced that it signed a deal with a wheat producer by releasing
some emissions-focused math:
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1 acre of wheat
needs about 100 lbs of nitrogen.
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100 lbs of N (via
ammonia or urea) are produced in a coal- or NG-fired factory today,
emitting ~300 lbs CO2.
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~1.5 lbs of N2O are
emitted per acre via the nitrification process. This means one acre
emits approximately 450 lbs CO2 due to soil N2O emissions.
-
In total, 1 acre of
wheat can emit as much as 750 lbs CO2 emissions from fertilizer
production and application.
Nitricity’s technology mitigates nearly 100% of these emissions.
It could be that these fertilization systems will integrate with
solar powered greenhouses and other
responsible land management techniques. In doing so, solar
power will likely prove to be indispensable to our future food
production.
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
www.exactrix.com
509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
Nathan1@greenplayammonia.com
exactrix@exactrix.com
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