Ag startup Nitricity, San Francisco, which has a technology to produce renewable nitrogen point-of-use, announced on Oct. 24 that it will collaborate with the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Muscle Shoals, Ala., on the launch of a demonstration system at IFDC’s research facility in Muscle Shoals.
The company said the project will seek to uncover Nitricity’s current greenhouse gas emissions profile and opportunities for further reduction. The project consists of running a Nitricity demo-system installed at IFDC to produce sustainable nitric acid and other nitrate-based fertilizers from air, water, and renewable electricity. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be measured from fertilizer production to soil application in a lab setting.
“Our work at IFDC is centered on improving sustainable agricultural productivity through proven, science-based research and methods,” said Dr. Upendra Singh, Vice President of Research at IFDC. “We are intrigued by the potential of Nitricity’s electrified fertilizer production method, and we look forward to reporting on the sustainability and scalability of this technology.”
The findings of the research project, expected to be available as early as the end of 2022, are expected to validate Nitricity’s technology as a potential tool to help mitigate GHG emissions from fertilizer production to field application when compared to conventional fertilizers.
“This collaboration has come at an incredibly important time, with recent volatility in the synthetic fertilizer market leaving many farmers with fewer options to grow crops efficiently,” said Nicolas Pinkowski, CEO and Co-Founder of Nitricity. “This crisis is particularly dire in Sub-Saharan Africa, an area of focus for our partners at IFDC. We are confident that through proving the effectiveness and sustainability of Nitricity’s production model in this demonstration, we will be able to quickly expand our efforts to regions where they are most needed.”