SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IS HERE

Nitrogen emissions, in particular ammonia emissions from agricultural waste streams, are negatively impacting the global food supply and future generations. Foremost is the environmental damage caused by ammonia emissions contributing to air pollution and the formation of particulate matter. It harms plants, including crops, by reducing photosynthesis rates, damaging leaves, and inhibiting growth. Consequently, overall agricultural productivity is negatively affected. Further, ammonia deposits increase soil acidity, leading to a decrease in soil pH which has detrimental effects on crop yields and nutrient availability.

These harsh repercussions only scratch the surface. Ammonia emissions contribute to the release of excess ni- trogen into the environment. While nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth, excessive nitrogen can cause imbalances in ecosystems. It harms aquatic life, reduces biodiversity, impacts the availability of freshwater resources for agricultural purposes, and contributes to the formation of greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxide, which further exacerbates climate change. More directly, excess ammonia emissions, particularly from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and industrial processes, pose health risks to humans. Inhalation of ammonia gas can irritate the respiratory system, leading to respiratory issues, especially in individuals with pre-existing respiratory conditions. Additionally, ammonia can react with other air pollutants to form fine particulate matter, which has been associated with various health problems, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Now governments and activists are taking aggressive and often extreme measures to curb nitrogen and ammonia emissions, especially in the context of air pollution and environmental protection, to solve the nitrogen crisis. From complex and invasive regulatory frameworks to unrealistic emissions reduction targets, these approaches are putting family farms out of business, preventing new crops, and driving higher prices for consumers. Pure Green Agriculture believes that innovative technology in conjunction with improved agricultural practices is the sensible and profitable path to solve ammonia emissions issues and create a truly sustainable global food supply that we all will benefit from.

Pure Green is a biotechnology company that developed a process to produce fully sustainable, carbon-neutral nitrogen fertilizers that benefit the environment and the global food supply. These fertilizers are produced by extracting nitrogen in the form of ammonia from organic waste streams in a process that is carbon neutral. The products are identical to chemically produced nitrogen fertilizers, but with one critical difference - Pure Green’s products are 100% sustainable. Unlike those that have shown a willingness to curb emissions without consideration for farmers and consumers, Pure Green’s approach is quite novel: solve the nitrogen emissions crisis without crippling the very farmers and producers, we so desperately rely on for our food supply. In fact, Pure Green believes these producers and farmers should increase profitability while making transformative changes to their business, and thus not risk going out of business. According to CEO Phil van Wakeren, “Our proposition is that in order to change agriculture to a fully sustainable regenerative model - one without yield drop, one that maintains or increases production rates, the availability of sustainable nitrogen is essential.” Typically, the chemical nitrogen industry uses two processes to produce nitrogen. The Haber Bosch process produces ammonia using atmospheric gas. The second process is named after its developer.

Wilhelm Ostwald when he

patented it in 1902, is a mainstay of the modern chemical industry. The process provides the main raw material for the most common type of fertilizer production. Ostwald turns the ammonia into nitrate. Both Haber Bosch and Ostwald use high levels of energy and therefore emit very large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Additionally, nitrogen from the atmosphere is added to the agricultural cycles disturbing natural nitrogen levels.

Pure Green’s process is vastly different. It extracts nitrogen from organic waste streams that are originally produced on farms such as food, manure, plant residues, and more. When these organic waste streams containing nitrogen (organic bound nitrogen) are decomposed, the nitrogen is made available (released) in the form of ammonia. Pure Green extracts the ammonia very efficiently to form an ammonia feedstock, used in its patented microbial oxidation process called AIR, where nitrification bioreactors facilitate the metabolization of the ammonia into nitrate using microorganisms. The process is entirely unique and completely sustainable. The resulting nitrate is critically important as it is the essential compound for producing fertilizers, in this case, sustainable fertilizers such as potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate and ammonium nitrate. The end products can be formulated to fit each crop’s feeding specification through blending and concentration. All products allow for drip irrigation and can be used in hydroponics or traditional applications.

Perhaps most unique is the fact that Pure Green has perfected an approach that mitigates harmful emissions at the highest level, eliminates regulatory costs from fines and compliance that many farmers face, reduces operational costs from disposal and tipping that plague the bottom line of many, while creating a new revenue stream from what was otherwise a nitrogen waste product. Further, Pure Green adopts a circular economy model in its approach. By creating a circularity between the conventional agriculture sector and livestock sector, it can be an agent of change by transforming agricultural practices through sustainable food production that reduces by-products and supports environmental initiatives.