Carbon-free fertilizer to feed the world sustainably

Summary

In 2024, Atlas Agro committed to establish the first-of-its-kind, large-scale, zero-carbon fertilizer plant in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The upcoming Pacific Green Fertilizer (PGF) phase of the project, whose feasibility study, engineering, and design have been completed, will produce 0.7 million tons of zero-carbon nitrate fertilizer annually, utilizing air, water, carbon-free electricity, and limestone as the only raw materials. Renewable electricity is used to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis of water. This hydrogen will then be transformed to create zero-carbon nitrate fertilizers. Green hydrogen made through the electrolysis of water using renewable and carbon-free energy removes greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing process. Atlas Agro is backed by investment from Macquarie’s Green Investment. The company is part of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub and a recipient of a U.S. Department of Energy grant from the Office of Clean Energy Distribution.

Approach

Atlas Agro commits to establishing the first large-scale zero-carbon fertilizer plant in 2027 located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The feasibility study for Pacific Green Fertilizer (PGF) and Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) have been completed. The first product is expected to reach farmers in 2027.
The PGF project is designed to produce 0.7 million tons of zero-carbon nitrate fertilizer annually, primarily serving the Pacific Northwest region. The plant will utilize air, water, carbon-free electricity, and limestone or dolomite as the only raw materials. Renewable electricity is used to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis of water. This hydrogen will then be transformed into green ammonia, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate to create zero-carbon liquid ammonium nitrate solution (ANs) , liquid calcium nitrate (CN) , and granulated calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizer (CAN) .
Atlas Agro will remove carbon emissions from production leveraging proven technologies to produce nitrate fertilizers, enabling its customers to reach their financial and sustainability objectives. Green hydrogen made through the electrolysis of water using renewable and carbon-free energy removes the GHG emissions from the manufacturing process.

Utilizing nitrates combined with improved application methods/precision farming will result in fewer on-field emissions and greater nutrient efficiencies compared to ammonia and urea. Further, the nitrates to be produced by Atlas Agro are more efficient and friendlier to the soil. This efficiency results in less ammonia volatilization and nitrogen losses to the surrounding environment.

Atlas Agro is backed by investment from Macquarie’s Green Investment Fund (GIG) , the world’s largest infrastructure asset manager and a specialist investor in energy transition. The company is part of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub and is a recipient of a US Department of Energy grant from the Office of Clean Energy Distribution. It is also a participant of the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program (FPEP) .

Action Plan

For PGF Implementation the following 3 aspects of project execution are important:

First, Transmission Interconnection: Atlas Agro has been working closely with Bonneville Power Authority and the City of Richland to design, permit and build the upgrades and new infrastructure required to deliver the renewable energy to the PGF Plant. AA is working with BPA on developing the basis of design that should be complete by Q3 2024. A General Contractor will be brought on board in Q4 2024 to perform detailed design, environmental permitting and Construction. Construction is expected to be completed by Q4 2027.

Second, Renewable Power Procurement: Atlas Agro is actively working on procuring 300MW of renewable energy for the PGF Project. An RFO was sent out in Q2 2024 requesting bids to which we received a substantial amount of interested parties. AA expects term sheets to be signed by Q3 2024.

Third, PGF Plant: The feasibility study for PGF plant has been completed in 2023 and the FEED completed in Q2 2024. Atlas Agro will onboard an EPC Contractor by Q3 2024. EPC for the PGF plant is expected to start in Q4 2024 and continue for around 40 months. The PGF plant commissioning will start in Q2 2027 with anticipated start up in Q4 2027.

Background

The manufacturing of fertilizers is currently dependent on fossil fuels. Fertilizers are vital to increase the yields and quality of crops to help feed a growing world population, but are also one of the largest sources of greenhouse gasses. The challenge is to continue to effectively produce enough food to feed the world, while reducing the environmental impact of the agriculture and fertilizer industries.

Fertilizer manufacturing accounts for 2% of the global CO2 emissions (equivalent to aviation) . Urea accounts for most nitrogen fertilizer applied globally. The hydrogen required to make ammonia is usually made from fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, or coal. Most of this is turned into urea, which cannot be made from renewable resources and further contributes greenhouse gasses through volatilization in farmer’s fields.
Technological solutions are available to produce green hydrogen at scale which can be turned into carbon-free nitrate fertilizers. This would be made in factories powered by renewable energy. Establishing a new manufacturing plant requires extensive CAPEX.
There is limited awareness of CO2 emissions caused by fertilizer production. Due to the relative difficulty of transporting nitrates and current network of production facilities the move to green hydrogen is proving difficult. An added problem is that there is no established green premium associated with carbon-free nitrate fertilizers.
At the same time global food corporations are setting ambitious climate targets. The potential emissions reduction from crop production with carbon-free nitrate fertilizer represents an attractive decarbonization lever incentivizing these companies to pay a green premium to farmers for zero-carbon crops.

Decarbonizing production could lead to an immediate ~15% reduction of the agriculture industry’s GHG footprint.

Progress Update

Partnership Opportunities

The polluting aspects of the fertilizer industry is not well known amongst the community and stakeholders. Atlas Agro seeks resources to help promote our message that a fossil fuel free future in the industry is possible today., Best Practice – Offering best practice guidance in the production of green hydrogen, green ammonia and carbon-free nitrate fertilizer.