Decarbonising Nitrogen Fixation for Sustainable Net-Zero Agriculture

Nitrogen fixation is critical for our food supply because nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient that has no substitute. Indeed,
it is estimated that between a third and half of the world's population would starve to death if the fertilisers produced
through anthropogenic nitrogen fixation were not available. However, current methods for nitrogen fixation (in particular, the
Haber Bosch process) are unsustainable and major contributors to global carbon dioxide emissions.

In this proposal, we seek to develop a new route to the fixation of nitrogen that could ultimately turn the state-of-the-art in
nitrate and ammonia production on its head. Specifically, this project aims to develop a new sonochemical route for the
fixation of nitrogen that is more sustainable than conventional approaches and that can facilitate the transition to net-zero
fertiliser production. We will achieve this through the development of a sonochemical flow system for nitrogen fixation and
through operating this under a variety of conditions in order to optimise the nitrogen fixation process. This will provide a
springboard for further development and scale up of the system as we seek to move towards application in the real world.