Yara International ASA is urging the European Union to help ensure sufficient supply of natural gas for fertilizer plants to keep producing AdBlue, a diesel fuel additive. It is known as diesel exhaust fluid or DEF in the US.
Produced in the same fertilizer plants, AdBlue is used by more than 29 million vehicles in Europe, including 25 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles and roughly half of Europe’s trucks, lorries, and buses, Yara said on Nov. 11. The additive helps reduce harmful emissions.
High natural gas prices have already led to widespread production curtailments, but an outright stop of gas supplies would hit more than just the production of fertilizers, said Yara, the world’s largest producer of AdBlue.
Nitrogen production is also essential for the European meat, food processing, and beverage industries, as well as in the health sector, the pharmaceutical industry, and the construction industry, Yara said. The EU’s package of solutions for the European fertilizer industry should therefore include measures to secure continued gas supply.