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This story comes from the Crows Nest blog site and makes very interesting reading. Especially if you have money for speculative invesments
Read this intro and go to the link for th whole story.
The story starts on this plot of land in Hertfordshire, England...
About 180 years ago, British scientists tested the effects of fertilizers on this field. They discovered that nitrogen is the single most important plant nutrient.
There was just one problem...
Though nitrogen is by far the most abundant element in the Earth’s atmosphere, no one knew how to harvest it.
This changed in 1909 when the chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch figured out how to pluck fertilizer from thin air by making ammonia.
Nitrogen fixed in ammonia fertilizes crops, which, in turn, nourish you.
Chemist Mercouri Kanatzidis from Northwestern University explains, "The Haber-Bosch process is one of the most important for humanity."
Because half of the world’s population would starve if it wasn’t for the Haber-Bosch process.
That’s why the synthesis of ammonia, also known as NH3, won both scientists the Nobel Prize.
But NH3 is not only a fertilizer...
Ammonia is also a fuel that can power internal combustion and jet engines.
Unlike petrol or kerosene, it releases no poisonous carbon dioxide whatsoever.
An engine running on NH3 emits nothing but water vapor and nitrogen. In fact, you can inhale and drink the exhaust from a car engine running on it.
And that’s not all...
NH3 has a 30% higher octane rating than gasoline, meaning it's more stable under pressure. It’s less of a fire hazard, and it forms no soot, allowing engine parts to stay clean.
So all of this begs the obvious question: Why don’t we run our cars, airplanes, and ships on ammonia already?
Well, unfortunately, the Haber-Bosch process, aside from helping to create the modern world, is also quite dirty and expensive.
