The timing is bad for farmers in North America, who are preparing for the spring planting season. Nitrogen fertilizer prices in the US jumped more than 20% from late February to mid-March, according to the investment bank Jefferies.<\/p>\n
After living through supply chain chaos during the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and now the war in Iran, farmers around the world are eager to ensure that they have stable access to fertilizers going forward, says Helga D\u00f6gg Flosad\u00f3ttir, CEO of the Icelandic fertilizer start-up Atmonia.<\/p>\n
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\n Wires and tubes emerge from a small tabletop device.<\/p>\n
Atmonia is developing a reactor that uses a new catalyst and electricity to produce ammonia at low temperature and pressure.<\/p>\n
Credit:
\n Atmonia<\/p>\n
Atmonia uses a new catalyst and electricity to produce ammonia at low temperature and pressure. Unlike conventional ammonia plants, the company\u2019s reactor can easily be turned on and off, making it possible to connect it to cheap, intermittent sources of electricity like solar panels.<\/p>\n
In February, Atmonia won a grant from the European Innovation Council<\/a> to start scaling up the process. The company hopes to develop shipping container-sized plants that farmers can operate on their own land. While the technology won\u2019t provide an immediate solution\u2014Atmonia\u2019s reactor is years from commercialization\u2014D\u00f6gg Flosad\u00f3ttir hopes such systems will give farmers more control over their fertilizer and insulate them from future wars or disasters.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will be the producers of their own fertilizer, and they won\u2019t be dependent on international value chains and geopolitics,\u201d D\u00f6gg Flosad\u00f3ttir says.<\/p>\n Other firms developing decentralized methods of making nitrogen fertilizers are also progressing. Nitricity, based in California, raised $50 million last September<\/a> to commercialize a process that converts almond waste into organic fertilizer. PlasmaLeap Technologies recently raised $20 million<\/a> for technology that uses plasma to convert air into nitrogen fertilizer, and TalusAg is planning a green ammonia plant that will serve local farmers in Iowa and Minnesota.<\/p>\n But producing fertilizer at local scale is more expensive than making it in massive manufacturing plants, says Lorenzo Rosa, a principal investigator at Carnegie Science who researches fertilizer production. Farmers operate on such tight margins that it\u2019s tough for them to justify paying for protection from price spikes that might happen only once every few years, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of finding someone willing to pay,\u201d Rosa says. \u201cAre companies, farmers . . . or countries willing to pay the green premium to offset reliance on imports and improve resilience?\u201d<\/p>\n In an October report from the climate-focused think tank Agora Industry<\/a>, Rosa and Agora analysts argue that small-scale fertilizer production will be an important complement to centralized manufacturing, even if it doesn\u2019t completely fulfill local demand.<\/p>\n Phosphorus-containing fertilizers have also been affected by the war. More than 20% of the world\u2019s phosphate fertilizers come from countries affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Fertilizer Institute<\/a>, an industry group. The region is also a major producer of sulfur, a raw material used to make phosphate fertilizers elsewhere.<\/p>\n The fertilizer price spikes in recent years have put a spotlight on new fertilizer technologies, says Hunter Swisher, CEO of Phospholutions, a start-up that makes an additive to increase the efficiency of phosphate fertilizers. But the momentum doesn\u2019t last long enough to boost new technology all the way from concept to commercialization, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat shock maybe lasts a year,\u201d Swisher says. \u201cThese innovations take many years to develop, many years to commercialize at a meaningful scale.\u201d<\/p>\n D\u00f6gg Flosad\u00f3ttir says the recent upheavals have sparked interest in fertilizer start-ups more for their potential to ensure a stable food supply than for their low carbon footprint\u2014an argument that could have more staying power.<\/p>\n \u201cSecurity is what people are thinking about now,\u201d D\u00f6gg Flosad\u00f3ttir says. \u201cPeople have not forgotten it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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