Nitrogen Fertilizer: New Strategies for Low-energy, Low-emission Production and Use

Default ARPA-E Project Image

Program:
OPEN 2021
Award:
$2,256,346
Location:
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Status:
ACTIVE
Project Term:
08/30/2022 - 08/30/2025
Website:

Critical Need:

Bioeconomy crops require nitrogen (N) fertilizer for high biomass yields. The incumbent fertilizer process, Haber-Bosch (HB), requires high temperature and pressure and cannot be scaled down economically; fertilizer must be transported from centralized factories to farms. The production and application of fixed N consumes 1-3% of the global fossil fuel energy supply and is responsible for up to 3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including the release of nitrous oxide (N2O), which is roughly 265 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2). In addition, up to 60-80% of the applied N is lost to runoff or N2O volatilization—the loss of N through the conversion of ammonium to ammonia gas—which is released to the atmosphere.

Project Innovation + Advantages:

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) aims to develop technologies that can collectively replace N fertilizer derived from the HB process. Their approach uses biological N fixation performed by the plant or associated bacteria with current and future sources of synthetic N. Each of the approaches provides N to the crops at different times and impacts energy, yield, and emissions. If successful, these advances will eliminate the need for the energy intense HB-derived N from agriculture. The application of N fertilizer is critical to obtain high crop yields, and has directly contributed to the global rise in crop yields over the last 50 years, but advances need to be made to simultaneously meet N requirements and ambitious energy, climate and sustainability targets.

Potential Impact:

If successful, the proposed technologies will eliminate HB-derived nitrogen from agriculture.

Security:

Global N demand has been projected to double this century, due to increased food needs alone. MIT’s approach aims to provide all of the required fixed N on site.

Environment:

The new technologies will eliminate a major source of global GHGs, including CO2 from HB and transportation fuels, and reduce N2O emissions.

Economy:

The team will use a techno-economic model that will directly compare technologies and guide which approaches are viable, how they can be optimally combined, and when to use them or not. This model is specific to different agricultural conditions and can be applied to specific field data, including soil type, weather, and geography.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Kirk Liu
Project Contact:
Christopher Voigt
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
cavoigt@gmail.com

Related Projects

• Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) - Non-neutron Transmutation of Used Nuclear Fuel
• Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) - A Zero-Emission Process for Direct Reduction of Iron by Hydrogen Plasma in a Rotary Kiln Reactor
• Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) - Advanced Facility Design and AI/ML Enabled Safeguards to Establish Secure, Economical Recycling of Fast Reactor Fuels
• California Institute of Technology (CalTech) - A Hybrid Electrochemical and Catalytic Compression System for Direct Generation of High-Pressure Hydrogen at 700 Bar
• Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) - Ionomer-Free Electrodes for Ultrahigh Power Density Fuel Cells
• Chilldyne - Helical Turbulator for Robust Nucleate Boiling Cold Plate
• Columbia University - High Capacity Electrolyzers Based on Ultrathin Proton-Conducting Oxide Membranes
• Columbia University - Lithium Ion Bobbin Cells for Grid Scale Energy Storage
• Copernic Catalysts - In-Silico Heterogeneous Catalyst Design for GHG Reduction via Bulk Chemicals
• Cornell University - Advancing a Low Carbon Built Environment With Inherent Utilization of Waste Concrete and CO2 via Integrated Electrochemical, Chemical and Biological Routes (ADVENT)
• Cornell University - Field-Focused Load-Leveled Dynamic Wireless Charging System for Electric Vehicles
• Dimensional Energy - 3D-Printed 1000°C Silicon-Carbide Thermocatalytic CO2 Reactor with High Carbon Conversion and Energy Efficiencies
• Eden GeoPower - Electro-Hydraulic Fracturing for Enhanced Geothermal Systems
• Fervo Energy - FervoFlex: Long duration in-reservoir energy storage and load-following, dispatchable geothermal generation
• Foro Energy - Eliminating Methane Emissions From Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells
• General Electric (GE) Global Research - Manufacturing High-Yield Investment Castings with Minimal-Energy
• General Electric (GE) Global Research - Lifted-Flame Combustion for High-Hydrogen Reheat Gas Turbines
• Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) - Surfactant-Free Multiphase Forming of Fiber Composite Products for Significant Reduction in Energy and CO2 Emission
• HighT-Tech - Scalable Manufacturing of High-Entropy Alloy Catalysts for Ammonia Oxidation
• Hinetics - Cryogen-Free Ultra-High Field Superconducting Electric Motor
• HRL Laboratories - Surface Laser Architected Magnets (SLAM)
• IBM T.J. Watson Research Center - Systems Two Phase Cooling
• Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) - Direct Conversion of Flue Gas to Value-Added Chemicals Using a Carbon -Nuetral Process
• Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) - Advanced Manufacturing of High-Entropy Alloys as Cost-Effective Plasma Facing Components for Fusion Power Generation
• Makai Ocean Engineering - Remotely Installed Anchorages for Floating Offshore Wind and Other Offshore Renewables Cost Reduction
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Liquid Immersion Blanket: Robust Accountancy (LIBRA)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - 8" GaN-on-Si Super Junction Devices for Next Generation Power Electronics
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Nitrogen Fertilizer: New Strategies for Low-energy, Low-emission Production and Use
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - Incorporating Record-Breaking Catalysts in Electrospun Bipolar Membranes for Low-Cost Carbon Capture via Salt Splitting
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - ReSOURCE: The Carbon Negative Biorefinery of the Future
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - Repurposing Infrastructure for Gravity Storage using Underground Potential energy (RIGS UP)
• Nokia of America - Delivering Energy & Exergy Efficiency in the Converged 5G RAN/Edge Compute Network
• North Carolina State University (NC State) - Intensified Alkenyl Benzenes Production via Modular Redox Dehydrogenation
• North Carolina State University (NC State) - Microgrid Control/Coordination Co-Design (MicroC3)
• Northeastern University - High-Performance and Miniature Greenhouse Gas Sensor for Drone-based Remote Sensing
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) - Precipitation Strengthened Ni-Based Alloys for Liquid Salt Containment and Transport in Energy Systems
• Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) - CACTUS: CO2 Aerogel Capture Towards Utilization and Sequestration
• Parallel Systems - Transformative Rail Architecture to Decarbonize Freight
• Perlumi Chemicals - Novel Biological Carbon Fixation Pathway to Increase Plant Yield
• Polymath Research - Longer Wavelength Lasers for Inertial Fusion Energy with Laser-Plasma Instability Control: Machine Learning Optimum Spike Trains of Uneven Duration and Delay (STUD Pulses)
• Pratt & Whitney - Hydrogen Steam and Inter-Cooled Turbine Engine (HySITE)
• Precision Combustion (PCI) - Additively-Manufactured Electrochemical-Chip Based Scalable Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
• Princeton University - Economical Proton-Boron11 Fusion
• Rio Tinto Services - Assessment of the CO2 Mineralization Potential of Tamarack’s Ultramafic Bowl-Shaped Intrusion
• Siemens - PICo-Design: Protection-Inverter Co-Design for 100% Renewable Power Systems
• SixPoint Materials - Vertical GaN Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch for HVDC Breakers
• Stanford University - Additive Manufacturing of Amorphous Metal Soft Magnetic Composites
• Sublime Systems - Electrochemical Upcycling for Low-CO2 Materials Production
• Synteris - Breaking the Board: Bringing 3 Dimensional Packaging and Thermal Management to Power Electronics
• Texas Tech University - Semiconductor Fast Neutron Detectors
• The Ohio State University - Vehicle Traction Electric Machines Enabled by Novel Composite Magnetic Powder Material and Electrophoretic Deposition Insulation Material
• University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) - Integrated System for Electromicrobial Production of Butanol from Air-Captured CO2
• University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) - Ultra Light-weight Bidirectional DC-DC Converters for Electric Aircrafts
• University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) - Mesh Network of Soil Sensors for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring of Biofuel Agriculture
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - AMENDER: Seawater Mediated Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Removal
• University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara) - Quantifying the Potential and Risks of Large-scale Macroalgae Cultivation and Purposeful Sequestration as a Viable CO2 Reduction (CDR) Strategy
• University of Delaware (UD) - Energy Efficient Manufacturing of Lightweight Composite Architected Structures for Transporation Vehicles
• University of Houston - Mini-PulPS: Miniaturized Pulsed Power Systems for Mission Critical Applications
• University of Houston - Lithium- and Transition Metal-Free High-Energy Fast-Charging Batteries
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) - Green Light Emitting Diodes for the Ultimate Solid-State Lighting
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) - Ultra-Efficient and Ultra-Rapid Electro-Thermal Pulse Deicing, Defrosting, and Desnowing for Renewable Energy and Electrified Aircraft Systems
• University of Maryland (UMD) - Fast Charging, Solid-State, Roll-to-Roll Processed Li Metal Batteries Enabled by Intercalated Ions in Cellulose Molecular Channels
• University of Michigan - Battery Separator for Completely Stopping Dendrite
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) - Microfluidic Alpha Spectrometer for Materials Accountancy and Control in Liquid-Fueled Molten Salt Reactors
• University of Washington (UW) - Harvesting Infrared Light to Improve Photosynthetic Biomass Production
• VEIR - High Current 10kV DC Superconducting Transmission Lines and Grid Architecture
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) - Substation in a Cable for Adaptable, Low-cost Electrical Distribution (SCALED)

Release Date:
02/11/2021