Decarbonisation and Decentralisation of Synthetic Nitrogen Fertiliser Production

合成氮肥生产脱碳、分散化

• 批准号: 10075844
• 金额: $ 37.28万
• 依托单位: DEBYE LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10075844
• 关键词: Decarbonisation; Decentralisation; Synthetic; Nitrogen; Fertiliser

Along with water and sunlight, nitrogen is essential to the growth of plants and life on the planet Earth. Until the early 20th century, farmers were relying on manure as a scarce commodity to enrich their crops. The Haber-Bosch process enabled the production of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. Agricultural productivity skyrocketed and food became more available and affordable. However, production, distribution and application of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers now account for 4.4% in total global CO2 equivalent emissions (2.6Gt CO2eq for 2021). Production heavily relies on fossil fuels leading to greenhouse gas emissions and it is centralized, while the consumption is dispersed globally. In fact, there are only about 200 fertiliser manufacturing facilities in the world. The fertilisers made in these facilities are distributed to five billion acres of agricultural land, so the need for transportation further increases emissions.We must fundamentally change the way we have been fertilizing soil (for more than a hundred years). Debye proposes to replace this centralized carbon-intensive process with a decentralized electricity-based one. In this process, farmers would not rely on resource and capital-intensive fertiliser factories and the associated high-cost distribution networks, instead produce their own fertiliser on site by the use of air, water and electricity. It has the advantage of integration with renewable energy making the production completely sustainable. This project aims to show the feasibility of a plasma-based mobile fertiliser machine that produces synthetic nitrogen fertiliser in a completely sustainable and affordable way using only air, water and electricity.

与水和阳光一样，氮对地球上植物和生命的生长也是必不可少的。直到20世纪初，农民还依赖粪便作为一种稀缺商品来种植庄稼。哈伯-博世工艺使合成氮肥得以生产。农业生产率飙升，粮食变得更容易获得和负担得起。然而，合成氮肥的生产、分配和应用目前占全球二氧化碳当量排放总量的4.4%(2021年为2.6Gt二氧化碳当量)。生产严重依赖化石燃料，导致温室气体排放，而且是集中的，而消费则分散在全球。事实上，世界上只有200家左右的化肥生产设施。这些设施生产的化肥分布在50亿英亩的农田上，因此运输需求进一步增加了排放量。我们必须从根本上改变我们(一百多年来)施肥土壤的方式。德拜提议用分散的以电力为基础的过程取代这种集中式的碳密集型过程。在这个过程中，农民不会依赖资源和资本密集型化肥厂和相关的高成本分销网络，而是通过使用空气、水和电力在现场生产自己的化肥。它具有与可再生能源集成的优势，使生产完全可持续。该项目旨在展示一种基于等离子的移动化肥机的可行性，它以一种完全可持续和负担得起的方式生产合成氮肥，只使用空气、水和电力。