In the May/June issue of World Fertilizer, Gordon Cope, Contributing Editor, provides insight into current strategies companies and governments are deploying to make fertilizers more sustainable.
Governments intent on reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) are aware that the fertilizer and farming sectors produce approximately 1.3% of all CO2 emissions worldwide. The EU has enacted the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), which requires the fertilizer industry to replace 42% of grey hydrogen with renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) by 2030.
In other jurisdictions, Canada has imposed net-zero goals by 2050 on wide swathes of its economies, including agriculture. While the Trump Administration is busily back-pedalling on US goals, Japan hopes to achieve net zero by 2050 through the use of organic farming, fertilizer application reduction, and smart farming. China is relying on enhanced nutrient management and other measures to reduce nitrogen-related emissions in agriculture by up to 48% by 2060.
Ammonia
While much attention is being focused on the farming side (which produces an estimated 2.1 billion tpy of emissions), ammonia production itself emits around 450 million tpy.
Over the last decade, producers and equipment suppliers have made significant improvements in processes. Much of the work has focused on increasing energy efficiency. Auto-thermal reforming (ATR) pairs up a primary reformer with a secondary reformer that uses heat from the latter to drive the former. Adiabatic pre-reforming treats the natural gas feedstock in order to reduce the steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio. Gas turbines can be used to drive the process air compressor; captured turbine exhaust can then be used as combustion air in the primary reformer.
Traditionally, ammonia producers have relied on catalysts made of magnetite (Fe3O4) to speed up the Haber-Bosch process. Researchers have focused on finding new compounds that increase the efficiency at lower temperatures and pressures. For instance, wustite (FeO) catalysts increase reduction rates by several hundred percent. Catalysts containing ruthenium allow operations at lower temperatures (350 - 450°C, as compared to 500°C) and pressures (< 10 mpa compared to 30 mpa).
Continuous improvements to a wide range of plant activities have added up. In 2018, Nutrien, one of the world’s largest fertilizer companies, set a goal to reduce its operational GHG emissions from 670 kg/t to 470 kg/t by 2030. In 2024, it reported it was halfway to its goal, at 570 kg/t.
In order to reach net-zero production, however, much more needs to be done. Fertilizers Europe, the industry group representing the majority of ammonia production in Europe, has published The Roadmap for The European Fertilizer Industry, which sets out a series of milestones using a mix of methods, including carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), green hydrogen, and green ammonia.1
Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)
Industrial scale CCS involves investing billions of dollars in devices that capture CO2 at the source, transporting it in bespoke pipelines and injecting it into permanent underground storage. The EU’s TEN-E Regulation lays down the guidelines to develop the infrastructure. The initiative has identified 18 Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) that would coalesce into a giant trans-European agglomeration of carbon-capture sites, transport networks, and injection sites. The total cost across all sources ranges from around €70 - 250/t of CO2; clearly, hundreds of billions will have to be spent over the next 25 years to achieve legislated goals.
Nutrien recently installed CCS at its 951 000 tpy Redwater plant in Alberta, Canada. Approximately 300 000 tpy of carbon is captured from its smokestacks and transported by the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line for permanent sequestration and use in enhanced oil recovery. It also operates CCS systems at other plants; in total, the company produces up to 1 million tpy of low-carbon ammonia.
In April 2025, CF Industries formed a joint venture (JV) with Japan’s JERA energy company to build a 1.4 million tpy blue ammonia plant in Louisiana, US. When the US$4 billion project comes on-stream in 2029, it will capture and sequester 2.4 million tpy of CO2, the equivalent of removing half a million cars off the road.
Reference
‘Roadmap for the European Fertilizer Industry’, Fertilizers Europe, 22 September 2023, https://www.fertilizerseurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Ammonia-Roadmap-Fertilizer-Europe-FINAL-Sept-22-2023.pdf
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