Whiff of Change to Making Ammonia

New production method from Japanese researcher and food company may slash costs.

Ammonia storage tanks at an Ajinomoto plant on Japan's southern island of Kyushu

A Japanese researcher and a food processor working to develop a new way to synthesize ammonia that is much more efficient and cost-effective than the current method, which itself is regarded by some as one of the 20th century's most important inventions.

Hideo Hosono, a professor of materials science at Tokyo Institute of Technology, and condiment maker Ajinomoto are leading the research, with hopes of developing practical applications within a few years.

Global production of ammonia totals around 160 million tons a year. It is used to make fertilizers, food and for other industrial purposes. Nitrogen, one of its components, is essential to plant growth. Work is also proceeding on turning ammonia into a fuel, so anything that allows it to be produced more cheaply and easily will draw worldwide attention.

The Haber-Bosch process currently dominates commercial production of ammonia. This process combines hydrogen and nitrogen from the atmosphere and is sometimes described as creating "bread from air," in homage to its importance in farming. Hosono's team has come up with a process that it believes will take ammonia production "beyond Haber-Bosch."

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