Norway pioneered the first large-scale industrial production of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser in the early 1900s through the Birkeland–Eyde process. In a picturesque landscape of mountains, waterfalls and river valleys of Rjukan-Notodden the early 20th century the company Norsk-Hydro started to manufacture synthetic fertiliser from nitrogen in the air in response to the Western world’s demand for increased agricultural production. Norway was able to leverage the geographical availability of cheap hydroelectric power to begin industrial development.
The Birkeland-Eyde process - named after scientist Kristian Birkeland (1867-1917) and industrial pioneer Sam Eyde (1866-1940) - is one of the first industrial scale methods for nitrogen fixation using electricity and an electric arc. This arc can oxidise the nitrogen in air to nitric oxide, which is used to produce nitric acid and nitrate-based fertilisers.
It is exactly this process of nitrogen fixation that N2 Applied has redeveloped, improved and turned into a 21st century alternative for fossil-based fertiliser production. Where in 1905 Norsk-Hydro started using local limestone and clean electricity from hydropower to produce liquid calcium nitrate, N2 Applied today produces liquid calcium nitrate fertiliser in the Technology Centre in Svene. We are literally bringing fertiliser production home to where it started more than 100 years ago. The current fertiliser contains minerals from Verdal, sustainable nitrogen produced from the air at Svene and electricity from Uvdal, all dissolved in pure water from Numedalslågen. What you won’t find is the unnecessary use of fossil resources.
A Norwegian cucumber grower is already buying our product and has fully replaced the water-soluble nitrogen fertiliser with our liquid calcium nitrate for his entire cultivation, and this is showing succesful results. The handling of the liquid fertiliser is much easier compared to having to dose and dissolve the water-soluble product and the cucumbers grow very well on the plasma-based product and are sold and available in Norwegian retail shops.
These efforts lay a new fundament for scalable and distributed mineral fertiliser production, using clean electricity and local resources. We are determined to scale this across the market and make fertiliser production more sustainable and ensure food security also in regions where availability of fertilisers is limited.
Where in the previous 100 years fertiliser has been produced from fossil fuels in large, centralised factories, based on Haber-Bosch technology, N2 Applied has developed the future-proof alternative based on electricity. Making fertiliser production less dependent on fossil inputs is a major global challenge. At N2 Applied we are confident that the solution for making our food system more resilient lies in the method from 1905. And it is exactly this technology that N2 Applied has taken up, improved, and made into a more efficient and scalable solution for distributed plasma-based nitric acid and nitrates production.
N2 Applied is ‘bringing home’ fertiliser production.