Decarbonising Nitrogen Fixation for Sustainable Net-Zero Agriculture

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Nitrogen fixation is critical for our food supply because nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient that has no substitute. Indeed,it is estimated that between a third and half of the world's population would starve to death if the fertilisers producedthrough anthropogenic nitrogen fixation were not available. However, current methods for nitrogen fixation (in particular, theHaber Bosch process) are unsustainable and major contributors to global carbon dioxide emissions.In this proposal, we seek to develop a new route to the fixation of nitrogen that could ultimately turn the state-of-the-art innitrate and ammonia production on its head. Specifically, this project aims to develop a new sonochemical route for thefixation of nitrogen that is more sustainable than conventional approaches and that can facilitate the transition to net-zerofertiliser production. We will achieve this through the development of a sonochemical flow system for nitrogen fixation andthrough operating this under a variety of conditions in order to optimise the nitrogen fixation process. This will provide aspringboard for further development and scale up of the system as we seek to move towards application in the real world.