Green ammonia a potential game changer in agriculture, says Manitoba farmer
Curtis Hiebert is testing out system that gives him more control over supply of key fertilizer ingredient
A Manitoba farmer says he's hopeful a new technology being tested on his land could change the face of agriculture not only in this province, but across Canada.
One of the main ingredients required for farming is anhydrous ammonia, which is used for nitrogen fertilizer, says Curtis Hiebert, who is the operator of R & L Acres and has been farming since he was 12.
"Nitrogen is in the air all around, and the process of anhydrous production is pulling that nitrogen out of the air, and putting it into a form that we can put into the ground," he said.
Roughly 80 per cent of the world's ammonia is used in the agriculture sector for fertilizer.
But because the process for making traditional ammonia involves removing hydrogen from fossil fuels like crude oil, methane and coal, it has significant environmental impacts. It's an energy intensive process that produces around 1.8 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
But a new process for making ammonia aims to change that. It involves making ammonia in a unit called a containerized green ammonia production system, and the end result is carbon-free ammonia created without using fossil fuels.
The system is set up on site at a farm, which gives ag producers like Hiebert more control over his ammonia supply.
"Bringing it on site, then we know it's here — it doesn't need to be transported from Brandon or Saskatchewan, where these anhydrous [ammonia] plants are," said Hiebert.
"Hopefully [this will] remove some of the volatility in the price of the product as well."
The containerized production system was created by a Canadian company called FuelPositive.
Its CEO, Ian Clifford, said what's referred to as "green ammonia" is made by using electricity to remove hydrogen from water. It's then combined with nitrogen from the air to make ammonia. The green ammonia is stored on site in a container for the farmer to use as needed.
"The most important ingredient to green ammonia is the fact that you got to start with a carbon-free, sustainable form of electricity. So one of the reasons we're starting all of this in Manitoba is specifically because it's a green grid — it's low-cost electricity," since the province relies heavily on hydro electricity, said Clifford.
Ammonia, and the fertilizer it produces, are essential parts of feeding the planet, but the way it's made now creates a huge carbon burden on the environment. Decentralizing ammonia production by making it possible on farms is "a paradigm shift," he said.
"We can't handle centralized production — we can't handle that level of carbon intensity, and it doesn't make sense to move a molecule thousands and thousands of kilometres, when in fact the end user can produce it and utilize it on farm."
The containerized green ammonia production system is controlled remotely, and FuelPositive will monitor the system, so it won't add to an ag producer's workload, said Clifford. All the producers have to do is apply it.
Clifford plans to build the company's ammonia production systems in Manitoba, and expects to be filling orders in the coming weeks and months.
'Very enticing' for big food processors, retailers: prof
"Green ammonia is very exciting," said Mario Tenuta, a professor of soil ecology at the University of Manitoba.
He said ammonia has been made the same way for a hundred years, but the new process sets a path toward using renewables in agriculture.
"When you start thinking about technologies and approaches that get us towards a point in time where we're not changing the atmosphere or our environment to the negative, that is really good," said Tenuta.
"We know we need to get there, we know the atmosphere can't be changing forever. Things will start to run away on us in terms of nature's checks and balances on climate and temperature."
Tenuta said making green ammonia will reduce emissions related to making food overall, and the cascading effects of that will appeal to major food processors and retailers.
"It's shaving away … emissions of greenhouse gasses from products and things that they buy from someone else," said Tenuta.
"It's very enticing for them, so this technology and this approach is being watched very carefully by many different groups in our food system."
Hiebert said the benefit to the environment, along with the economic benefits and being in control of his own ammonia supply, are all wins for him and his farm.
"We should know what the price [of ammonia] is for the next 15 to 20 years — the life of the plant, which I'm told is a long time," said Hiebert.
"If we can be off the grid, I don't have to worry about the price of [fossil fuels], so that's a huge benefit to us."
