Sustainable production and in-place utilization of a liquid nitrogenous fertilizer

Efficient production and utilization of nitrogenous fertilizers can in-crease the food supply to support the dramatic increase of the world's population. However, the conventional centralized produc-tion and excessive use of solid nitrogenous fertilizers lead to severe waste and environmental pollution. The adoption of liquid nitroge-nous fertilizers can maximize utilization efficiency. Because plants can simultaneously absorb ammonium-and nitrate-nitrogen fertil-izers, herein we propose a two-step relay strategy to sustainably produce NH4NO3 solution for in-place utilization by using air and water as raw materials. This distributed synthesis approach can be easily incorporated into present irrigation systems with controllable fertilizer concentrations for different crops. Furthermore, a techno-economic analysis is conducted to confirm the application potential of this strategy. This perspective provides new insight for the sus-tainable production and in-place utilization of liquid nitrogenous fertilizers at appropriate concentrations and hopefully promotes the development of smart agriculture.

Automated summary

A strategy for producing nitrogenous fertilizers using air and water is proposed to improve fertilizer utilization efficiency, reduce waste and environmental pollution. This method can be easily integrated into existing irrigation systems and has the potential to promote the development of smart agriculture.