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      MORRIS, Minn. (AP) - The winds sweeping across the Northern
Plains could soon help farmers fertilize their crops of corn, wheat
and sorghum.


      Minnesota researchers have designed a $3.75 million carbon-free
system that uses wind power from a towering turbine to produce
anhydrous ammonia, a common nitrogen-based fertilizer.


      It's a perfect supply-and-demand match, as the region has no
shortage of wind and U.S. farmers use millions of tons of
fertilizer, said Michael Reese, director of the University of
Minnesota Renewable Energy Center at Morris.


      The test plant will produce fertilizer for use on university
farm land. But those working on the project say a similar system in
which fertilizer is produced and sold nearby could contribute to
the local economy.


      It also would take advantage of the region's wind potential
while skirting that industry's main hurdle of needing expensive
transmission lines to ship electricity east to the urban areas that
need it, Reese said.


      "Rather than put that investment in transmission lines, why
don't we put that investment into an energy intense industry in
rural areas where this renewable energy is at?" he asked. "It
seems like kind of a no-brainer to me."


      The venture would again make anhydrous ammonia a renewable
commodity, which it was until the 1950s and 1960s.


      Fertilizer production in the early 1900s was powered primarily
by hydroelectric dams, but companies scrapped that method after
realizing they could make it more cheaply using natural gas.


      Anhydrous ammonia is stored in pressurized tanks similar to
propane, and it can be applied directly to fields or used as an
ingredient in other nitrogen fertilizers. It's shipped to farmers
through a network of pipelines, railcars and tanker trucks.


      The U.S. is the largest importer of fertilizer in the world,
with more than half its nitrogen coming from overseas. The country
imported about $1.4 billion worth of anhydrous ammonia in 2009, or
6.1 million U.S. tons, according to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.


      Construction on the Morris plant began this week, and it should
produce fertilizer by the end of the year.


      The plant will use surplus energy generated onsite by a
1.65-megawatt wind turbine that already helps power the nearby
campus.


      The system creates fertilizer by using an air separation unit to
pull nitrogen from the air, while the turbine powers large
electrolyzers that separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. The
nitrogen and hydrogen are then synthesized into anhydrous ammonia
using a century-old chemical process called Haber-Bosch.


      The technology is proven, and using wind to power the
electrolyzers instead of natural gas makes it a carbon-free process
that releases no greenhouse gases.


      The question is whether a renewably produced fertilizer can
compete in the market. At the current price of about $500 a ton,
that would be difficult. But if prices return to the
near-$1,200-per-ton range seen a couple of years ago when natural
gas prices spiked, "then sure, I believe it would work," Reese
said.


      Such price jumps are tough on farmers.


      The 2008 run-up was followed by a sharp drop, but many farmers
had already locked into high prices for the spring and couldn't
take advantage of that, said Mark Fiscus, location manager of the
Heart of Iowa Co-op in Story City, Iowa. Farmers now are benefiting
from the lower costs, he said.


      "They've settled down kind of into a midrange in which guys can
at least plan a little better now," he said. "There's still some
fluctuation."


      One of the big impediments to a profitable wind-to-fertilizer
system is the electrolyzer, said John Holbrook, an ammonia expert
exploring its use as a motor fuel.


      "You've already got one arm tied behind you because those are
very expensive and pretty inefficient," Holbrook said.


      His company, Richland, Wash.-based NHThree LLC, is working on a
new process called solid state ammonia synthesis, which could
improve efficiency by bypassing the Haber-Bosch process and the
electrolyzer.


      As with any commodity, transportation adds to the cost, and the
nation's 3,100 miles of ammonia pipelines miss many areas,
requiring the use of truck and rail. Producing and using fertilizer
locally could help make it more affordable, Holbrook said.


      Private companies also are exploring ways to make so-called
green ammonia.


      San Francisco-based SynGest, Inc., plans to build an $80 million
facility about 40 miles west of Des Moines, Iowa, that will produce
ammonia fertilizer from corn cobs, and an Oregon nonprofit called
Northwest Hydrogen Alliance Inc. is studying the feasibility of
storing energy by producing anhydrous ammonia. The idea would be to
buy cheap excess hydropower at off-peak times during the spring
melt to produce anhydrous ammonia for use as fertilizer or to store
hydrogen.
      

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The winds sweeping across the Northern
Plains could soon help farmers fertilize their crops of corn, wheat
and sorghum.

Minnesota plant will produce fertilizer from wind

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