Nitrogen fixation to make green ammonia ‘is top 10 emerging technology’

Nitrogen fixation, which describes producing ammonia sustainably, is now a $200bn market and one of the world’s top 10 emerging technologies, according to a new joint report from the World Economic Forum, Frontiers and Dubai Future Foundation.

Converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia at a scale of more than 150 million tonnes a year is need to produced fertilisers and support half of the world’s food production.

But the key challenge is breaking the extremely stable triple bond that holds together the two nitrogen atoms that make up atmospheric nitrogen (N2).

In the Haber-Bosch process, this step requires temperatures of 400°C to 500°C, pressures 130 to 150 times greater than that found in the Earth’s atmosphere, and hydrogen primarily sourced from natural gas in a CO2-generating reaction.

However, this process consumes 1% to 2% of global energy and emits 2.4 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of ammonia produced – nearly twice that of steel production and four times that of cement manufacturing.

Green nitrogen fixation technologies are currently being explored by established companies and by start-ups. Australian Jupiter Ionics, for example, is spearheading lithium-based nitrogen fixation technology, whereas California-based Ammobia is focusing on new, more efficient catalysts.

Such alternative technologies would also allow less centralised production, enabling ammonia to be generated more widely, using locally abundant renewable energy, such as wind and solar. Ammonia produced nearer to the point of use could be efficiently stored or processed into fertiliser on-site, saving transport energy and costs.

Ammonia production plants using green hydrogen instead of natural gas have proven to be financially viable and are currently being scaled globally.

Much as Haber-Bosch transformed humanity’s relationship with food, lithium-mediated electrochemical processes could present another significant advancement: the potential ability to produce ammonia using only air, water, and renewable electricity.

Beyond agriculture, green ammonia emerges as a versatile energy carrier with strategic advantages over liquid hydrogen. With storage requirements up to 30 times lower in cost than liquid hydrogen, ammonia is generally a more practical medium for hydrogen energy storage and transport.

The other nine emerging technologies highlighted in the report are structural battery composites, osmotic power systems, advanced nuclear technologies, engineered living therapeutics, GLP-1s for neurodegenerative diseases, autonomous biochemical sensing, nanozymes, collaborative sensing, and generative watermarking.

“Over the next decade, leadership in green nitrogen fixation would likely emerge from those [that] can integrate three distinct strategic capabilities: advanced electrochemical manufacturing, renewable energy infrastructure and agricultural innovation ecosystems,” the green nitrogen chapter concludes.

“The technology represents a potential convergence where food security, energy innovation and climate action might intersect in a single transformative platform.”