Agriculture has an emissions problem. But, there is an ambitious new technology aiming to solve it: green ammonia.
What’s happening:
- Ammonia is one of the most important chemical inputs for agricultural fertilizer, however the traditional production methods of ammonia rely heavily on fossil fuels and produce significant carbon dioxide emissions
The big idea:
- Green ammonia is able to be produced without any carbon emissions through using hydrogen from water electrolysis and nitrogen separated from the air
Why it matters:
- Finding a way to reduce the dependence on traditional ammonia production has the potential to drastically lower the amount of fossil fuels being used globally to manufacture agricultural fertilizer and also unlocks the potential to significantly decarbonize agriculture
Who is making moves:
- FuelPositive (TSXV: NHHH) recently announced the installation of the world’s first farmer-owned decentralized modular green ammonia system located in Manitoba, Canada.
By the numbers:
- Traditional ammonia, which is often referred to as grey ammonia, produces approximately 420M tonnes of carbon dioxide annually
- Grey ammonia consumes approximately 2% of all the fossil fuels produced globally
- Nearly 80% of all ammonia produced is ultimately used for agriculture fertilizer
Going deeper:
- FuelPositive’s modular green ammonia system represents a significant breakthrough in the production of green ammonia being able to happen directly on farms, which comes at an important time as the Canadian government has introduced new policies which are pushing agriculture operators to drastically reduce their carbon emissions in an effort to get closer to net zero
- The transportation of grey ammonia is also extremely harmful to the environment, as during transfers to the end location ammonia frequently leaks into the atmosphere and it is commonly transported through gas powered commercial vehicles
The intrigue:
- FuelPositive’s modular green ammonia system is also capable of leveraging renewable energy sources for the production of ammonia, which is a first of its kind technology breakthrough
