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Sewa

(1,242 posts)
Wed Mar 8, 2023, 04:12 PM Mar 2023

World's 1st carbon-free fertilizer plant to be built in Richland, WA.

Atlas Agro is determined to remove carbon from the world’s agriculture systems and Richland is where it is going to start.

Atlas Agro said it will disrupt the fertilizer industry by producing nitrogen products with zero carbon emissions. The Richland plant will be the first of its kind in the world and will support 1,000 local jobs. It is expected to begin operating in 2027.

The Pacific Green Fertilizer Plant will convert nitrogen from the air into fertilizers to feed plants. Products will ship product to farmers and customers by electric vehicles as part of Atlas’s commitment to decarbonize the food supply chain, according to Dan Holmes, Atlas Agro’s executive director for North America

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/state/washington/article272894035.html





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World's 1st carbon-free fertilizer plant to be built in Richland, WA. (Original Post) Sewa Mar 2023 OP
Ammonia can be used as fuel for air/NH3 fuel cells, eliminating carbon that way as well. eppur_se_muova Mar 2023 #1

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
1. Ammonia can be used as fuel for air/NH3 fuel cells, eliminating carbon that way as well.
Wed Mar 8, 2023, 04:36 PM
Mar 2023

We just need to choose the best electrode for the fuel cells. So far optimizing for NH3 has not been as well researched as for H2 and other fuels.

NH3 "burned" in a fuel cell is converted back to N2 and released to form air again. Although the N2 weighs more than the H2 it helps to transport, it greatly simplifies storage -- liquid NH3 storage is not that more challenging than propane storage -- and should ultimately reduce transport costs. However, the best applications for NH3 as fuel may very well be large seagoing ships, as well as locomotives. Building storage and distribution facilities for personal vehicles would be considerably more challenging economically, but could still pay off in the long term.

The US gov't is already invested in this idea -- see this link for example.

Just hope we can eventually find electrode materials that have less environmental impact than, say, lithium-ion batteries.

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