By Alannah Balfour & Cora Layman
Overview
Nitrogen has been an integral part of life since the first cell was formed. Nitrogen is a gas that makes up about 80% of our atmosphere, and is also a major part of healthy soil because it is formed from the decomposition of organisms. Nitrogen is a part of the life cycle, just like it is part of the atmosphere. Nitrogen is created in the soil as a gas by decomposing organisms, eventually mineralizing to become ammonia, then fixates to become nitrite and goes through nitrification caused by soil bacteria to oxidize further and become nitrate. Finally, some of that nitrate is released as a gas back into the atmosphere. Mineral nitrogen is an important compound necessary for the survival and health of all organisms, particularly plants, and gaseous nitrogen is what creates most of the atmosphere that has allowed for life on Earth.
Mineral nitrogen is heavily utilized by humans for agriculture. Many countries use nitrogen to create an ammonia fertilizer that makes crops and other plants grow faster and healthier. Nitrogen is removed from the atmosphere industrially via the Haber-Bosch Process. This process involves combining hydrogen (H2) with the atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to produce ammonia to store and create fertilizer. The formula for this chemical process is: N2+3H2 yields 2NH3. The reaction is exothermic, meaning heat is released from the reaction in the atmosphere in the process of creating a produce of ammonia. The Haber process is set in a controlled environment using liquified air, and uses an iron catalyst to speed up the rate of reaction. The reaction only uses about 15% of the reactants to convert into products, so the entire reaction is set in a recycled container that continually uses the nitrogen and hydrogen until virtually only ammonia has been created. This consists of about 98% ammonia, 2% nitrogen and hydrogen. The pressure put on the produced ammonia is increased and the temperature is decreased, converting ammonia from a gas into a liquid that can be stored in a container. The ammonia is then used with other compounds to make a fertilizer for crops and farmland.
Yet there is a question that remains to be asked: what are the environmental consequences of the Haber process and of ammonia fertilizer? The Haber process requires a lot of energy to allow the reaction to proceed to nitrogen, so companies often use fossil fuels to keep the reaction running. When fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, which can increase temperatures in the atmosphere and further the menace of global warming. It can also affect temperature rises on a local level within the regions where mineral nitrogen production sites are located. The use of the ammonia fertilizer eventually created through the Haber production of mineral nitrogen can lead to excessively rich soil in the area that it is used. This threatens directing farmlands towards mass eutrophication.
Mineral nitrogen in the compound ammonia is produced with this process in over sixty different countries, and is imported by almost every country in the world for fertilizer treatment. Every year, about 25 million tons of nitrogen are produced through the Haber process by these countries. The most common nitrogen-based compounds eventually created from this fractional distillation are, “ammonium nitrate, urea, nitric acid, ammonium phosphates [diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP)], and ammonium sulfate.” Nitrogen is used predominantly to create ammonia fertilizers, but is also used less commonly in the form of nitric acid to produce explosives, in dinitrogen oxide as anesthetic (laughing gas), or in urea compounds. It has high economic value in the agricultural industry across the globe, and is an important part in the import and export trade market between first and third world countries. The USGS Mineral Yearbook in 2014 describes the primary producers of mineral nitrogen by stating, “Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Trinidad /Tobago accounted for about one-half of world exports. Asia, particularly India, imported about one-third of global ammonia trade, followed by North America and Western Europe.” We will explore locations in two of the previous top nitrogen production sites: both a first world country, the United States, and a semi-developed country, Saudi Arabia. The US has most of its production locations, called nitrogen production plants, in the midwest, so that will be our first location of focus. In Saudi Arabia, we focus on the production site of the largest nitrogen fertilizer plant, SAFCO and its industrial influence on the largest Eastern Saudi Arabian port, Dammam.
Iowa, USA
Iowa contains quite a few large cities such as Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, but the region is also composed of a great deal (38% total landmass) of rural areas such as suburbs and farmland. There are little to no mountainous regions in this area, and the land tends to be flat plains extending as far as the eye can see. The stormy, humid, warm summers in flat land are good for the production of crops by farmers and agricultural companies. This region is best known in and outside of the United States as farmland. The most common crop produced in the Iowa is corn, so much so that it is referred to as part of the midwestern ‘corn belt’, and Iowa produced more corn than any other state in 2008. In 2012, the midwest produced 12 million bushels of corn, and Iowa contributed to about half of that input. Other particularly common crops produced in Iowa are soy, barley, oats, and variety of wheats that depend on the season. Agriculture in Iowa accounts for over 9 billion dollars of its annual income, ranking the fifth highest economic support in the state. The array of farmland in this state suggests the need for much mineral nitrogen, due to the fact that ammonia fertilizer helps crops to flourish in time for farmers to sell them. Therefore, it makes sense that there are four large production sites for mineral nitrogen in Iowa, and that one of the biggest American ammonia fertilizer companies, Koch industries, has special locations in cities such as Fort Dodge, Iowa.
The US is one of the primary producers and consumers of mineral nitrogen, and Iowa, due to its agricultural dependence, is an area that often utilizes nitrogen fertilizer and is an important region for the production of mineral nitrogen. The following map shows the aggregation of mineral nitrogen and ammonia production sites in America. The states in the midwest containing these production plants are Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Illinois, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Indiana. Out of 50 total sites of mineral nitrogen production in America, Iowa harbors 4 of these production localities, making up 8% of the mineral nitrogen locations present, and is where much of total U.S. ammonia fertilizer is produced.
Operational US Nitrogen Fertilizer Production Sites
Iowa benefits from this nitrogen production both agriculturally and economically. Agriculturally, the fact that ammonia fertilizer is generally used for crop growth and development as an alternative to manure means that rural Iowa tends to rely on mineral nitrogen for its ability to grow crops. This leads directly into the economic benefits that mineral nitrogen has for the entirety of Iowa, particularly for companies such as Koch and CF in the large cities. Farmers that buy the fertilizer created in the cities where mineral nitrogen is being created boosts the profits of these nitrogen companies, which boosts crop development for rural Iowa farmland. Helping the companies that have bases in Iowa cities furthers the urban economy and can create jobs for citizens, and the increased production of crops thanks to the fertilizer stabilizes and furthers the rural economy. Both of these economic impacts increases the income of the entire state of Iowa.
However, there are also issues that Iowa and its citizens face with mineral nitrogen production. Starting by looking at the environmental impacts of mineral nitrogen, an increase of smog in cities due to fossil fuel burning is a threat when large industries such as Koch and CF are producing nitrogen. Also, using too much ammonia fertilizer in the millions of acres of Iowa farmland could result in over-rich soil, and large scale eutrophication of rural areas could ensue, greatly threatening farmers. There are also economic issues with mineral nitrogen production. The US itself, which of course includes Iowa, has a large import and export of mineral nitrogen for farm usage. As stated by the fertilizer institute in 2002, “The United States is the largest importer of fertilizer in the world, with more than half our nitrogen and over 85 percent of our potash coming from international sources.” Much of the mineral nitrogen used by farmers in Iowa has been imported, which saves money for the farmers and the state but also threatens Koch and CF industries and therefore mildly threatens Iowan urban economy and job production. However, this may be a problem that can be solved, because much of the mineral nitrogen produced by companies based in Iowa is exported. This is because it is economically valuable for the nitrogen production industries to sell their mineral nitrogen and ammonia fertilizer to other countries for a high price and have the state import the mineral nitrogen and ammonia fertilizer from other countries for a low price. As stated in the USGS Minerals Yearbook in 2014, “Canada, Chile, and the republic of Korea were the leading destinations for U.S. exports of ammonia, accounting for 98% of the total.”
Production companies, particularly Koch industries with locations in Iowa that are benefitting from these exports may be concerned about recents statistics and changing times. The Agricultural Retailers Association explains that much has changed for fertilizer production since the mid 1900s. In 1970, the US created 85% of its own nitrogen fertilizer but just 20 years later created only 50% of its own nitrogen fertilizer. This is because of the fact that foreign countries are developing cheaper technologies to create mineral nitrogen, and therefore are able to sell it to the United States for less, leaving production sites in Iowa beginning to heavily rely on the exportation of their produced mineral nitrogen. In fact, this cheap importation of fertilizer by the US has already resulted in the loss of quite a few fertilizer companies in Iowa in the past, leaving behind the CF and Koch corporations to hold onto 75% of the nitrogen in ammonia fertilizers that is brought into Iowa. Also, there is a potential concern for farmers utilizing this ammonia fertilizer as well. The economy in Iowa has begun to rely less heavily on agriculture and in the last decade has turned to manufacturing in more urban settings. This threatens the livelihood of the almost 90 thousand farm operators, as well as threatening the production of mineral nitrogen on both a local and global scale to provide fertilizer to the over 30.5 million acres of Iowa farmland.
Although the mineral nitrogen industry in the Iowa must now begin to rely more towards exporting their goods, mineral nitrogen in ammonia fertilizer is still extremely valuable to the agriculturally centered Iowa economy. The farmland requires good soil and good fertilizer to aid in crop development, and ammonia fertilizer is one of the most heavily used fertilizers in the world. The economy in Iowa may not truly depend on the exportation of mineral nitrogen from its facilities in large cities, but it does boost the economy of Iowa and provide jobs to citizens in urban settings. If Iowa has a good economy, it affects the US economy in a positive way. The economy involving mineral nitrogen counts on the midwest because the it holds 30% of the mineral nitrogen production sites, and Iowa holds 8% . Mineral nitrogen is an important part of Iowa agriculturally and economically.
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company, referred to as SAFCO, is the first and largest petrochemical company in Saudi Arabia established in 1973 after working with both the government and the country’s citizens. To produce nitrogen fertilizer, in 2014 SAFCO finished building a processing plant slightly north of Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia where it now produces upwards of 4,800 tons of nitrogen fertilizer annually.
Dammam is the regional capital of eastern Saudi Arabia, located in close proximity to the Persian Gulf, which allowed it to become the largest trading port in the east. Due to its industrial focus, it is growing at a rate of 12% annually, the fastest in Saudi Arabia. Initially, it was the oil industry that started the rapid development of the region. However, unlike many other oil towns, the industry stirred growth in all parts of Dammam, prompting the foundation of large universities and hospitals. The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, for instance, contributes heavily to global engineering and industrial management. It has become a thriving commercial and shopping center, as well as home to a local industrial city with 120 factories and 160 currently being created. SAFCO has taken full advantage of this technological and trade boom, moving to Dammam in the past couple years.
SAFCO was initiated in combination with the citizens of Saudi Arabia as well as its government to manufacture ammonium fertilizer for the local and international market, working to become a leading manufacturer of fertilizer products. It works with the neighboring community to ensure air, water, and ground pollution are controlled. As of May 2016, SAFCO is a top profiting company in eastern Saudi Arabia, and is a source of employment for over 1,000 people. The industrial boom of the region has contributed heavily to a source of financial well-being for a large community; although there is an environmental awareness, as large-scale production companies have provided a respite from the poverty of the nation’s past, it is welcomed.
Dammam, with the marked eastern industrial area
Comparison & Conclusion
The United States and Saudi Arabian industries are progressing in entirely different directions, although both producing the same mineral nitrogen product. As the US fertilizer industry declines, attempting to direct its production towards other nations, the Saudi Arabian industry is able to grow exponentially with cheaper production methods. The mineral nitrogen is being used similarly in both nations, by producing an ammonia fertilizer to contribute to agriculture. This in turn stimulates the economy in every country in the world, as agriculture is an ever-lucrative and growing global business.
Iowa is supported by mineral nitrogen produced in the US and other countries. This is due to the ability of ammonia fertilizer created from mineral nitrogen to support the agricultural development of crops, which is an integral part of Iowa’s economy. Although there are fears from mineral nitrogen companies, mostly Koch industries, that the declining use of made-in-America ammonium fertilizer by American farmers will decline its market, much of the fertilizer produced is still being exported to growing and third world regions that rely on the fertilizer for agricultural development. Even so, the ammonium production exportation is not a huge part of economy of Iowa, because it relies much more heavily on agriculture, industry, and manufacturing than on mineral exportation of any kind. For now, the production of mineral nitrogen in Iowa boosts and supports midwestern economy, and the use of imported ammonia fertilizer by Iowan farmers can be a valuable asset for the health and amount of crop production in Iowa.
Because of Saudi Arabia’s dry desert climate, local agriculture is not a booming enterprise. SAFCO and the majority of Saudi Arabian fertilizer companies angle instead towards larger agricultural industries abroad. This is similar to the US in terms of exportation and importation, with exportation providing an exponential boost to the Saudi Arabian trade-based economy. The government supports these values; SAFCO, for instance, was created with 50% public funding. The development of this nation owes itself heavily to exportation of mineral-based commodities like nitrogen, and prides itself on globalization.
Mineral nitrogen is similarly produced and consumed globally, at least on a chemical level. The environmental impact of the Haber-Bosch process, used to chemically fix nitrogen into a usable mineral, leads to CO2 production. The environmental impact of ammonia fertilizer itself can lead to eutrophication of farmland. Where ever utilized, mineral nitrogen as a tool to create the most flourishing agricultural environment is an integral aspect of citizens worldwide. It increases crop production dramatically. Both the US and Saudi Arabian economies benefit from the exportation of mineral nitrogen fertilizers, and more often than not US farms use Saudi Arabian fertilizer. All production sites are monitored for detrimental environmental pollutants by government and citizens, a key aspect of any mineral production site. By 2019, nitrogen production is expected to increase by 9%, although the demand is thought to decrease by 3%. The overall contribution to each economy, if not the foremost exported mineral, makes mineral nitrogen incredibly important.
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