Commercially-Available Chemical Fertilizer Developed to Enhance Crop Production to Rebalance Nitrogen Cycle

Over a century ago, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch industrialized a process that could generate ammonia from nitrogen already available in the air, developing commercially-available chemical fertilizer capable of improving crop production.

Regarded as one of the most essential scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, the Harber-Bosch process is still used for growing crops all over the world, a Phys.org report specified.

Such a process saved millions of people from famine, although it, along with other human activities, is disrupting the nitrogen cycle of humans, warming the globe, and possibly putting the health of millions in danger.

That is why now is the time to examine the scientific research underway to rebalance the nitrogen cycle, Xuping Sun, professor at the Institute for Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, explained.

Balancing Nitrogen Cycle

Sun and his team analyzed the last years of the study in the field and summarized the most promising paths forward in a paper published in Nano Research Energy.

The professor also explained that the atmosphere of most of Earth, around 78 percent, makes the largest nitrogen source.

Nonetheless, atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for biological employment, resulting in a scarcity of useful nitrogen in various ecosystem types.

Therefore, it undergoes various transportation types to maintain a balance. Essentially humanity has tipped the nitrogen cycle of Earth out of balance.

Plants Procuring Ammonium

Nitrogen cycles through various chemical forms as it moves among ecosystems in the atmosphere, land, and water.

Prior to the advent of the process by Haber-Bosch, for instance, plants procured ammonium from decomposing microorganisms that exist in compost and manure that are taking up nitrogen and converting it.

Plants absorb the ammonium from the fertilizer or microorganisms into their roots, although they cannot utilize the abundance of fertilizers.

According to Sun, when plant roots do not eliminate the fertilizer, some of it is running off the field and polluting waterways.

Microorganisms Converting Ammonia

"The rest," Sun explained, "is consumed by a series of soil microorganisms converting ammonia to nitrite, nitrate, and nitrogen gas.

That can incorporate oxygen into nitrous oxide, typically identified as laughing gas, roughly 300 times more effective at heating most atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

The answer could be electrocatalysis, the professor said. Such a process uses a catalyst to fast-track a chemical reaction on an electrode, and it is typically used in such products as batteries or fuel cells.

Describing electrocatalysis, Sun said, "it is a simple yet powerful" approach that runs at ambient conditions where catalytic materials identify the efficacy of the conversion, a similar Bioengineer.org report specified.

Advances in Heterogeneous Nanomaterials

The professor continued explaining that nitrogen-cycle catalysis contains numerous conversion reactions and corresponding potential electrocatalysts, so a genuinely efficient and stable catalyst will be the best chance to balance the nitrogen cycle, specifically if it is flexible and sustainable, not to mention compatible enough to convert intermittent renewable energy to value-added chemicals that have minimal carbon emissions.

The study investigators review, in particular, the manner recent advances in heterogeneous nanomaterials or tunable atomic materials whose particular size and arrangement can change such a reaction may add to probable solutions.

Related information on the nitrogen cycle is shown on 7activestudio's YouTube video below:

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