Signal Ammonia underpins about 90 percent of European farm output; its production uses 2 percent of primary energy

Summary

According to the report, without ammonia it would be impossible to make the fertilisers behind roughly 90 percent of European agricultural output. That makes European farming deeply dependent on the compound despite advances in organic agriculture. The issue is how it is produced. Ammonia manufacturing is an energy-intensive, fossil-based process that worldwide uses about 2 percent of primary energy and accounts for 1.5 percent of CO2 emissions. Both stages of the conventional process, hydrogen production and nitrogen fixation, rely on natural gas, which adds to the burden. On this basis the report sees fossil-free fertiliser technologies such as electrolysis, new catalysts and biological nitrogen fixation as strategically important.