Ammonia is perhaps best known as a household cleaner or the chemical that makes your pee smell. Few might realise, however, that half of the world’s food production relies on ammonia-based fertilisers produced in just a handful of countries. This clear, foul-smelling chemical is largely made by superheating water, air, and natural gas under pressure — a process that emits vast quantities of carbon dioxide. Ammonia synthesis is by far the dirtiest chemical manufacturing process in the world, responsible for about 1.8% of global CO2. That’s more than the UK’s total emissions last year. In a bid to clean up…
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