Green ammonia a potential game changer in agriculture, says Manitoba farmer

A Manitoba farmer says he's hopeful a new technology being tested on his land could change the face of agriculture not only in this province, but across Canada.

One of the main ingredients required for farming is anhydrous ammonia, which is used for nitrogen fertilizer, says Curtis Hiebert, who is the operator of R & L Acres and has been farming since he was 12.

"Nitrogen is in the air all around, and the process of anhydrous production is pulling that nitrogen out of the air, and putting it into a form that we can put into the ground," he said.

Roughly 80 per cent of the world's ammonia is used in the agriculture sector for fertilizer.

But because the process for making traditional ammonia involves removing hydrogen from fossil fuels like crude oil, methane and coal, it has significant environmental impacts. It's an energy intensive process that produces around 1.8 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

But a new process for making ammonia aims to change that. It involves making ammonia in a unit called a containerized green ammonia production system, and the end result is carbon-free ammonia created without using fossil fuels. 

The system is set up on site at a farm, which gives ag producers like Hiebert more control over his ammonia supply.

"Bringing it on site, then we know it's here — it doesn't need to be transported from Brandon or Saskatchewan, where these anhydrous [ammonia] plants are," said Hiebert.

"Hopefully [this will] remove some of the volatility in the price of the product as well."

The containerized production system was created by a Canadian company called FuelPositive.

Its CEO, Ian Clifford, said what's referred to as "green ammonia" is made by using electricity to remove hydrogen from water. It's then combined with nitrogen from the air to make ammonia. The green ammonia is stored on site in a container for the farmer to use as needed.

"The most important ingredient to green ammonia is the fact that you got to start with a carbon-free, sustainable form of electricity. So one of the reasons we're starting all of this in Manitoba is specifically because it's a green grid — it's low-cost electricity," since the province relies heavily on hydro electricity, said Clifford.

Ammonia, and the fertilizer it produces, are essential parts of feeding the planet, but the way it's made now creates a huge carbon burden on the environment. Decentralizing ammonia production by making it possible on farms is "a paradigm shift," he said.

"We can't handle centralized production — we can't handle that level of carbon intensity, and it doesn't make sense to move a molecule thousands and thousands of kilometres, when in fact the end user can produce it and utilize it on farm."