Synthetic nitrogen fixation which involves the production of nitrogen fertilisers from atmospheric nitrogen has revolutionised agriculture allowing for increased food production to meet and support growing global demand. However, it has also led to several significant problems. The production of nitrogen fertilisers is energy-intensive contributing 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. Regions producing nitrogen fertilisers are politically unstable presenting a sovereign supply risk. Additionally, the production and transport are susceptible to commodity pricing (oil and gas) and can result in environmental and safety risks to local communities.

The production of ammonia is the halfway point to the production of nitrogen fertilisers. Whilst ammonia can be utilised as a fertiliser, its direct use worldwide is limited. The current industrial process that produces ammonia is large and centralized and requires ammonia to be transported to the point-of-use.

Fertiliser prices are subject to fluctuations in commodity currency and transport costs. Ecological and sovereign risks have and are having marked effects on not only cost but also fertiliser supply. Fertiliser facilities are typically located near gas fields and are large in scale due to their inherent inefficiencies. Most of Australia’s fertilisers are imported from overseas. Farmers have identified that nitrogen fertiliser are the single largest input cost to crop production. Addressing these issues us vital in providing a sustainable food supply.

Non-thermal plasma is a key element in Nitronic’s nitrogen fixing technology. Plasma technology has existed for over a century and has been utilised in numerous industrial processes. Plasma generation is simple cheap to implement and readily scalable. It is ideally suited to be run on renewable power.

Nitronic’s technology uses non-thermal plasma to make nitrogen more reactive and predominantly generates ammonia. The ammonia generated can be reacted to produce a range of nitrogen-based fertilisers. Importantly, Nitronic’s technology has a number of benefits over existing fertiliser production including that it:

• does not require the generation of hydrogen
• does not utilise the Haber-Bosch Process
• does not operate at extreme temperatures or pressures
• does not utilise fossil fuels or
• does not produce greenhouse gas emission.

Additional benefits include:

• Nitronic produces end-use fertilisers such as urea not just fertiliser intermediates such as ammonia
• Nitronic’s technology can be scaled in size to meet demand or located close to end users.
• Nitronic’s technology can be operated on electricity which can be sourced from renewable forms and be carbon emission-free.

Compared to existing urea production and green urea production, Nitronic’s technology does not require the hydrogen generation stage. This phase is typically associated with fossil fuel use greenhouse gas emissions or water electrolysis.

Nitronic’s technology does not require the Haber-Bosch (HB) process and the associated energy consumption for generating high temperature and pressure. All green urea processes still require this energy intensive step.

Additionally, the inefficiency of the HBP requires large scale facilities with associated large capital cost and limited locations.

Ammonia is converted to urea via the Bosch Meiser (BM) process. The first step of this process which again requires high pressure is not required. Nitronic directly converts ammonia to ammonium carbonate as it is generated at room temperature and pressure. This is a single step process for ammonium carbamate generation. The final step, conversion of ammonium carbamate to urea, is conducted as previously utilised in the BMP. This is the only step that Nitronic utilises from the existing urea production process and occurs at a moderate temperature under normal pressure.

This low temperature/pressure single step process offers substantial cost savings in the fertiliser process.

Nitronic moves beyond ammonia production to produce a range of fertilisers that are required by farmers.

The processing technology is simple and cheap. Nitronic’s process does not require hydrogen generation, complex intermediates, processors and/or membranes. Nitronic’s technology is clearly differentiated from its competitors by being able to produce a range of fertilisers and is not restricted to solely producing ammonia.

Nitronic has a defined development program. The aim of this program is to optimise the production process to ensure that end products are efficiently produced. The program aims to model the production process and design a large pilot plant for testing. The development program will be conducted at the University of Illinois and will be overseen by Prof. Sankaran and Dr Gunzburg. An illustrative timetable has been created for this development program and is shown below.