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ICELAND Fertilizer www.atmonia.com

Atmonia produces an on-farm, zero carbon nitrogen fertilizer obtained exclusively from air, water and renewable energy.

Innovation: Atmonia’s technology is based on an electrochemical process that uses novel, patented catalysts for nitrogen reduction in water at ambient temperature and pressure. The innovation is two-fold, both within the catalyst, that makes the chemical reaction possible, but also with the business model that this new technology enables. The process’ simplicity makes it suitable for on-farm use and highly applicable with local renewable and intermittent electricity sources such as solar or wind. No CO2 emissions, no handling, no transportation, no hazardous materials, easily turned on/off, optimized for renewable energy, applicable with fertirrigation, minimal leaching, all at a competitive cost.

Impact: Nitrogen fertilizer is essential for sustaining food production for a growing population as it can increase the yield of current crops and use both land and natural resources in a better way. The Atmonia system makes possible to produce nitrogen fertilizer directly on the spot, with very small-scale units (even below 1ton/year), while traditional methods (Haber-Boch process), to be economical, require usually a large scale (in the range of millions tons/year). Having secure access to sustainable fertilizers would be a major change for the farmers in the developing countries. One of its most important benefits is to be able even to minimize the country’s trade deficit, an important goal of many developing countries that import most or all of their fertilizers. With this technology, the capital expenditure for the creation of the fertilizer is minimal: the only inputs are water and electricity which can be sourced locally.