Green Approach to the Fertiliser Industry: Low-carbon Fertilisers

Abstract

Decarbonisation means reducing or ideally eliminating the greenhouse gas emissions by evaluating all processes in a system from a “low-carbon” perspective. This review describes the current state of the fertiliser industry, and the options and recom-mendations for its decarbonisation. Decarbonisation of the fertiliser industry can be achieved with the developing technologies in terms of raw materials, energy usage, and operating conditions in the fertiliser production processes. Low-carbon fertilisers can be realised with the improvements that can be made in the life cycle of the fertiliser, from the derivation of the raw mate- rials to the formation of the final products. Today, many decarbonisation studies with new technologies that can be created in ammonia production, which is the most energy-intensive process in the fertiliser industry, are at the research stage. This paper reviews the use of hydrogen source in ammonia production and achieving biomass gasification or electrolysis with low carbon footprints, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in nitric acid production, integrating carbon capture and storage technologies into the fertiliser processes, and increasing the efficiency of low-carbon agricultural practices.