On Friday, June 13, the world’s largest environmental award, the Food Planet Prize, will be awarded.

[Juks]

The Food Planet Prize is awarded by a Swedish foundation and is worth approximately 2 million dollars. The prize goes to organizations and companies that reduce the environmental impact of food production.

This year, a Swedish company, Nitrocapt, has a chance to win with its new method of producing fertilizer without emitting greenhouse gases. They use only electricity and create the fertilizer from molecules in the air... Their technique uses electricity from solar and wind power to generate plasma, which in turn fuses nitrogen and oxygen molecules from the air. The result is a white, grainy material that resembles coarse salt.

Today, fertilizer is mainly produced using fossil gas, which leads to large carbon dioxide emissions, almost as much as all the world’s airplanes combined. Nitrocapt has the potential to reduce global CO₂ emissions by more than two percent.

The fertilizer is not yet on the market. In trials outside Uppsala, researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) are testing how plants absorb the new fertilizer, and so far, everything is going according to plan. The fertilizer is also gentle on both water and air.

If they win the prize, the company hopes to bring the fertilizer to market even faster.

The Food Planet Prize 2025 Shortlist is here! - Food Planet Prize

We’re thrilled to announce this year’s shortlist: Out of over 1,000 nominations, 6 groundbreaking initiatives have made it to the final stage and the winner will be revealed on June 13th! These initiatives represent some of the most innovative efforts worldwide to reduce the environmental...

foodplanetprize.org

Fingers crossed!!!

 

[Lord of Planar]

The Food Planet Prize is awarded by a Swedish foundation and is worth approximately 2 million dollars. The prize goes to organizations and companies that reduce the environmental impact of food production.

This year, a Swedish company, Nitrocapt, has a chance to win with its new method of producing fertilizer without emitting greenhouse gases. They use only electricity and create the fertilizer from molecules in the air... Their technique uses electricity from solar and wind power to generate plasma, which in turn fuses nitrogen and oxygen molecules from the air. The result is a white, grainy material that resembles coarse salt.

Today, fertilizer is mainly produced using fossil gas, which leads to large carbon dioxide emissions, almost as much as all the world’s airplanes combined. Nitrocapt has the potential to reduce global CO₂ emissions by more than two percent.

The fertilizer is not yet on the market. In trials outside Uppsala, researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) are testing how plants absorb the new fertilizer, and so far, everything is going according to plan. The fertilizer is also gentle on both water and air.

If they win the prize, the company hopes to bring the fertilizer to market even faster.

The Food Planet Prize 2025 Shortlist is here! - Food Planet Prize

We’re thrilled to announce this year’s shortlist: Out of over 1,000 nominations, 6 groundbreaking initiatives have made it to the final stage and the winner will be revealed on June 13th! These initiatives represent some of the most innovative efforts worldwide to reduce the environmental...

foodplanetprize.org

Fingers crossed!!!

I will bet the cost of these fertilizers will prevent them from having any positive impact. That they will be too expensive to use.

 

[Juks]

I will bet the cost of these fertilizers will prevent them from having any positive impact. That they will be too expensive to use.

Oh, I suspect they will be much cheaper than today's fertilizer.

 

[Lord of Planar]

Oh, I suspect they will be much cheaper than today's fertilizer.

That would be awesome if true. We just disagree.

 

[Juks]

That would be awesome if true. We just disagree.

Oh, and it’ll create a lot of new Swedish jobs as well… “Make Sweden Great Again” is going to boom! We move forward, not backward, always a recipe for success. Mosaic Company Florida; goodbye!

Maybe we’ll need to invite Latino workers to come here. They’ll be legal, receive pensions, and hopefully help the EU machine take over the world (though that isn’t really necessary, Trump is already handing it to us).

 

[Lord of Planar]

Oh, and it’ll create a lot of new Swedish jobs as well… “Make Sweden Great Again” is going to boom! We move forward, not backward, always a recipe for success. Mosaic Company Florida; goodbye!

Maybe we’ll need to invite Latino workers to come here. They’ll be legal, receive pensions, and hopefully help the EU machine take over the world (though that isn’t really necessary, Trump is already handing it to us).

I hope you are correct about it being cost effective. I see it as a similar cost problem as with hydrogen. Hedrogen is cheap to make if you make it from natural gas. It us expensive to make from water using electricity.

 

[Grand Mal]

The Food Planet Prize is awarded by a Swedish foundation and is worth approximately 2 million dollars. The prize goes to organizations and companies that reduce the environmental impact of food production.

This year, a Swedish company, Nitrocapt, has a chance to win with its new method of producing fertilizer without emitting greenhouse gases. They use only electricity and create the fertilizer from molecules in the air... Their technique uses electricity from solar and wind power to generate plasma, which in turn fuses nitrogen and oxygen molecules from the air. The result is a white, grainy material that resembles coarse salt.

Today, fertilizer is mainly produced using fossil gas, which leads to large carbon dioxide emissions, almost as much as all the world’s airplanes combined. Nitrocapt has the potential to reduce global CO₂ emissions by more than two percent.

The fertilizer is not yet on the market. In trials outside Uppsala, researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) are testing how plants absorb the new fertilizer, and so far, everything is going according to plan. The fertilizer is also gentle on both water and air.

If they win the prize, the company hopes to bring the fertilizer to market even faster.

The Food Planet Prize 2025 Shortlist is here! - Food Planet Prize

We’re thrilled to announce this year’s shortlist: Out of over 1,000 nominations, 6 groundbreaking initiatives have made it to the final stage and the winner will be revealed on June 13th! These initiatives represent some of the most innovative efforts worldwide to reduce the environmental...

foodplanetprize.org

Fingers crossed!!!

I'm guessing the electricity they're using is hydro generated. This sounds like the cost of processing depends on the cost of electricity and hydro power, once the infrastructure is in place, is about the cheapest I know of.

 

[Juks]

I'm guessing the electricity they're using is hydro generated. This sounds like the cost of processing depends on the cost of electricity and hydro power, once the infrastructure is in place, is about the cheapest I know of.

A large part of the electricity we use and produce in Sweden comes from wind, solar, and hydropower. We have never been dependent on Russian gas, and when our neighbors Poland and Germany reduced their imports from Russia, we built transmission lines for export. We have plenty of wind and water ;-) Not as much sun, though. Hydropower accounts for 40%, and wind for just over 20%. But I believe this company plans to use wind and solar power that they will produce themselves.