Reliable fertiliser supply chains are becoming increasingly important. Traditional nitrate fertilisers are often produced in large, centralised facilities and transported across long distances before reaching growers. When energy prices rise, shipping routes are disrupted, or geopolitical tensions affect global trade, fertiliser availability and affordability can quickly come under pressure.
N2 Applied offers an alternative route: local, electric production of nitrate-based fertilisers. One example is liquid calcium nitrate, produced through a simple three-step process using air, water, electricity and limestone.
The process starts with air. Air contains mainly nitrogen and oxygen, but under normal conditions these molecules are very stable. In N2 Applied’s plasma process, air is treated with electricity to create plasma. This allows nitrogen and oxygen from the air to react and form nitrogen oxide gases, mainly NO and NO₂.
This is the step where nitrogen is fixed from the air. Instead of using natural gas to produce ammonia through the Haber-Bosch process, the plasma route uses electricity to activate nitrogen directly from air.
In the second step, the nitrogen oxides are absorbed into water. This forms nitric acid, which is the central precursor for nitrate-based fertilisers. This route creates a direct pathway from air to nitric acid, avoiding the fossil-based ammonia production step.
In conventional production, nitrate fertilisers are typically produced through the Haber-Bosch and Ostwald processes: first making ammonia, then converting ammonia into nitric acid. Plasma-based nitrogen fixation offers a more direct electric alternative.
In the third step, nitric acid is mixed with limestone (CaCO₃). This produces liquid calcium nitrate, a nitrate fertiliser that can be used in fertigation systems.
The logic is simple: nitrogen comes from the air, hydrogen comes from water, the energy comes from electricity, and the calcium source comes from a widely available mineral. This makes the process suitable for decentralised production closer to where the fertiliser is actually used.
A defining advantage of plasma-based systems is their modular design. Production units can be installed in building blocks of around 300 kW, allowing capacity to be scaled gradually. This makes the technology relevant for regional fertiliser production, industrial sites and greenhouse clusters.
Flexibility is equally important. Plasma systems can ramp up and down quickly, which makes them well suited to renewable electricity from wind and solar. During periods of surplus or low-cost electricity, power can effectively be converted into fertiliser.
Calcium nitrate is one important application, but the nitric acid produced can also serve as a precursor for other nitrate-based fertilisers, such as potassium nitrate and ammonium nitrate, as well as selected industrial applications. The process can also create opportunities to use locally available or recycled mineral sources, including ash-based minerals, as inputs for fertiliser production. This links electrified nitrate production with local mineral recycling.
By electrifying nitrate production, N2 Applied enables a more local, flexible and resilient fertiliser supply chain. This is not only a new production method, but a different industrial model for how fertilisers can be made.