This is mainly about fertilizers. A caption in the quoted report points out: ‘Ammonia is currently obtained by reacting nitrogen (N2) from air with hydrogen (H2). This reaction requires high energy and is, therefore [sic], powered by fossil fuels, contributing to over 3% of the global CO2 emissions.’ But the report notes that ammonia is critical for fertilizers that help feed 70% of the world’s population, so restricting ammonia use to satisfy climate obsessives would not be a smart option — at least as far as the 70% are concerned. But using wind power to produce ammonia has proved ineffective, so new ideas are sought by fuel-averse researchers.
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Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed an improved catalyst by taking the common dehydrating agent calcium hydride and adding fluoride to it, reports Phys.org.
The catalyst facilitates the synthesis of ammonia at merely 50 °C, by using only half the energy that existing techniques require. This opens doors to ammonia production with low energy consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emission.
Ammonia is critical for making plant fertilizer, which in turn feeds approximately 70% of the world’s population.
In industry, ammonia is produced via the Haber-Bosch process, where methane is first reacted with steam to produce hydrogen, and hydrogen is then reacted with nitrogen to give ammonia.
The problem with this process is that as the temperature increases, the yield decreases. To continue to get a good yield, the pressure applied in the reaction chamber needs to be increased. This requires much energy.
Further, the iron-based catalysts used for the reaction are only effective above 350 °C. Maintaining such high temperatures also requires a significant amount of energy. To top it all, the yield is only 30-40%.
Fossil fuels are currently used to power the process, contributing large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Renewable resource alternatives, such as wind energy, have been applied, but those have not proven sustainable.
To increase the yield while reducing harm to the environment, therefore, the reaction must take place at low temperatures. For this to happen, catalysts that enable the reaction at low temperatures are required.
Continued here.
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It is the age old problem: The energy input MUST be less than the useful energy output. climate obsession just adds to the problem.
The catalyst also contains nanoparticles of ruthenium, won’t be cheap. If it works as advertised, it could be a real breakthrough.
Ammonia is critical for making plant fertilizer, which in turn feeds approximately 70% of the world’s population.
Barring mass starvation, only fossil fuels will do. So all the nonsense about leaving them in the ground is just that – nonsense.
TMORE FALE NEWS… The false assertion that chemical fertilizer ‘feeds 70% of the population , is repeated again and again.. all scale local agriculture still delivers most food and organic fertilizer works better without ecocidal destruction..
TITLE SHOULD BE….MORE FAKE NEWS
We all know that attaching ‘climate change’ to any research project will bring in the grant money to the researchers. That has to be why they do it, it also covers all the stupid research that goes on.
The false assertion that chemical fertilizer ‘feeds 70% of the population’
Pick another percentage then – the point is:
About 90 percent of ammonia produced is used in fertilizer, to help sustain food production for billions of people around the world. The production of food crops naturally depletes soil nutrient supplies. In order to maintain healthy crops, farmers rely on fertilizers to keep their soils productive.
https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/ammonia/
Facts, not fake news. Organics aren’t going to take over world food production any time soon.
Oldbrew that site above makes no mention of ammonium nitrate explosives (ANFO) which in Australia is in fact the major use of ammonia. There are two manufacturers of explosives. Wesfarmers (ASX WES) makes around 230,000 tonne for the mining industry. Dyno Nobel makes about 1 million tonne for both fertiliser and explosives. I used to have shares in Dyno Nobel. In 2008 Incitec Pivot, an ASX listed fertiliser company making superphosphate which is the main fertiliser used in Australia took over Dyno Nobel and built an new ammonia plant in USA in 2013. I sold my IPL shares just before the share crash from the virus lockdown. More than 50% of Dyno Nobel’s production is in explosives.
So, yes false news about the use of ammonia and also fake news about fertilisers. Beside superphosphate the other large spread fertiliser is agricultural lime (which is actually fine ground limestone often pelletised to minimise dust in spreading)
Ammonia production depends on plentiful supplies of energy, predominantly natural gas. Due to ammonia’s critical role in intensive agriculture and other processes, sustainable production is desirable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia_production#Sustainable_ammonia_production
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Ammonia Use in Agriculture
Ammonia is a source of nitrogen for growing plants. Every fertilizer contains nitrogen either in the form of ammonia or compounds derived from ammonia.
https://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/73262.aspx
The cheaper the energy the more things become possible.
Oldbrew , Superphosphate has no nitrogen component see http://www.incitecpivotfertilisers.com.au › media › Files › IPF › Documents PDF or this https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/soils/improvement/phosphorous. I think you should look at countries that have large agricultural industries like Australia, USA and even Chins and stop looking at sites that are green biased. Australia is one of the largest wheat, beef and sheep producers. The soils in Australia are lacking in some elements particularly phosphate and calcium for growing grasses (including wheat). some of Australia’s wheat and grazing properties are larger than your counties. You may think that UK does not have much of a mining industry (unlike Australia, China and USA) but it does use ammonium nitrate explosives in quarrying for road materials, aggregate for concrete and limestone for cement. I suggest even in UK more ammonia goes in explosives than fertiliser for your small agriculture sector.
Ammonium nitrate is definitely an explosive. It is used in “industrial explosives”. Nothing to do with military.
Nitrogen fertilizers are made from ammonia (NH3), which is sometimes injected into the ground directly. The ammonia is produced by the Haber-Bosch process.[19] In this energy-intensive process, natural gas (CH4) usually supplies the hydrogen, and the nitrogen (N2) is derived from the air. This ammonia is used as a feedstock for all other nitrogen fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) and urea (CO(NH2)2).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer#Single_nutrient_(%22straight%22)_fertilizers
Phosphate fertilizers are another category, as are potassium fertilizers. Combinations of any of these may be used. The link goes into more detail.
Oldbrew, I quote from your post above” Every fertilizer contains nitrogen either in the form of ammonia or compounds derived from ammonia” Glad that you now admit that was wrong, By the way any internet site that mentions “sustainable” is green biased. Do you think the G3 mobile phone or the computer with XP windows was sustainable? Nothing is sustainable except stupidity as Einstein hinted. Stupidity seems to have spread more than the virus. I can not think of a politician in Europe, North & South America, Africa or Australia that is not infected by stupidity. Do not know all of Asia but it certainly is rife there also.
cement – that website was talking about plants:
Production of Ammonia
Nitrogen is absolutely necessary for plants to grow.
Later it says:
What is in Fertilizer?
The three primary nutrients in fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. The sources of phosphorous and potassium tend to be rocks, and are obtained by mining. For example potassium can be obtained from potassium carbonate, a relatively abundant rock. There is no nitrogen rich ore that plants are capable of feeding on, so the nitrogen must be synthesized in the form of ammonia. Fertilizer also contains several secondary nutrients, and each farming application has a particular optimal fertilizer makeup. Because fertilizer is so dependent on ammonia production, and fertilizer is a large part of agricultural costs, the price of food and the price of natural gas do mimic each other to some degree.
At the end:
Ammonia will remain a key ingredient in modern industrial farming, even through the transition to clean energy.