Nitrous Oxide Abatement

You may know nitrous oxide as laughing gas, but it is no laughing matter. N₂O is a greenhouse gas over 300 times more powerful than CO₂ in holding heat in our atmosphere, is destructive to the Earth’s protective ozone layer but its emissions are unregulated. This project supports the installation of a proven catalytic technology that reduces N₂O emissions. N₂O abatement is a voluntary, vital and worthwhile investment that improves our environment and keeps our farms productive. Bottom Line: CF Industries, by installing this technology, is stepping up to do the right thing, even though government regulations do not require it to do so.

Fertilizer is used in over 95% of all food crops. It is estimated that without fertilizer, food production would fall by 40% – 50%, and perhaps even more. For the 7 billion people on our planet, fertilizer puts food on the table. The production of agricultural fertilizer, however, releases N₂O into the atmosphere, a powerful greenhouse gas far more potent than CO₂ which stays in the atmosphere for over a century.

There is a solution. N₂O can be tamed. The Catalytic technology used in this project separates N₂O into simple oxygen and nitrogen, both of which exist in abundance in the atmosphere and are environmentally benign. Problem solved.

Mother Earth, mostly. By reducing emissions of an especially nasty greenhouse we’re protecting Earth’s atmosphere. N₂O is an unavoidable by-product of the manufacturing of fertilizer. This project proactively demonstrates leadership: N₂O abatement is feasible, the technology exists, and good stewards of the planet are adopting it.

“It’s the right thing to do.”

Read how one outstanding company, CF Industries, decided to step up and voluntarily do the right thing to make a difference.

There are no regulations for the abatement of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere in older nitric acid plants despite its high global warming potential. There is very little financial incentive for companies to install abatement technologies in the absence of emission regulations. CF Industries has of its own goodwill invested a great deal of time and money into its Yazoo City N₂O abatement project and corresponding charity initiative, thereby combating the impacts of greenhouse gases in climate change while still producing a product that helps feed the world and promoting social good.

—Sid Yadav, CEO Global Offset Research