A sustainable, energy-saving way to make the key ingredient in fertilizers

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(THE CONVERSATION) Ammonia, with its unmistakable urinous odor, is a critical ingredient in agricultural fertilizers. With more than 145 million tonnes manufactured annually, only sulfuric acid outranks it as the world’s most produced chemicals. Manufacturing this simple molecule, made from just four atoms – one nitrogen and three hydrogen – is, however, surprisingly difficult and one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing processes on the planet, consuming 3 to 5 percent of th...