The main component of air: nitrogen absorption by the body

June 1, 2022

・Chemical fertilizer

Nitrogen makes up 78% of the atmosphere.

Plants use this as a protein-like nutrient to grow.

However, plants cannot take up nitrogen directly through their roots or leaves, so fungi and microorganisms that live on the roots convert it into compounds that can be metabolized.

Nitrogen from plants is absorbed by humans through animals, then excreted as nitrogen compounds, which are then absorbed by plants again. This is the "nitrogen cycle" that you learn about in high school biology.

However, plants grow very slowly if they only use the nitrogen that is naturally present in the soil . Also, once it is all used up, the nitrogen runs out and the plants stop producing fruit.

So, humans mixed nitrogen from the air with hydrogen to solidify it as ammonium, and invented chemical fertilizer.

Since then, the world population has grown from approximately 1.6 billion in 1900 to 7 billion today, thanks to the ability to produce grain cheaply, in large quantities, and stably.

Nitrogen is amazing!

It's not just oxygen and carbon dioxide! It's 78% of the atmosphere! Carbon dioxide only makes up 0.03% so I don't want you to forget about me!

Please listen to the cries of your soul that seem to say this once in a while.


・Organic fertilizer

Without chemical fertilizers, agricultural products would be expensive.

While this dramatically increases yields, if there is too much nitrogen in the plant, the resulting excess of protein, a compound of nitrogen, somehow reduces the taste.

This is evidenced by the fact that the lower the protein concentration, the more delicious the sweetness of rice is.

Most people only focus on pesticides, but if you want quality, you should pay attention to the amount of chemical fertilizer used.

Conversely, how much organic fertilizer is used?

Unlike ammonium, organic fertilizers are not absorbed directly by plants; instead, they are first decomposed by microorganisms and then slowly absorbed by plants.

It also increases the number of microorganisms, making the soil itself richer, and the substances contained in chemical fertilizers do not have a negative impact on the natural environment.

In addition, because it is rich in minerals that are absent in chemical fertilizers (i.e. it contains little nitrogen), it is difficult to increase the protein content.

Plants are also healthy and delicious when they eat a balanced diet .

However, the cost of production is high, the yield is low, and the price of the product is high.


・Decarbonization

Hydrogen is required to produce chemical fertilizers (nitrogen fixation) such as ammonium sulfate and urea .

However, the percentage of hydrogen in the air is 0.000%. So where do we extract hydrogen from? Apparently, 90% comes from methane (CH⁴), which is found in crude oil and natural gas.

So how do we deal with C? Perhaps we combine it with oxygen ( burn it) and release it into the air?


・World situation

The three major nutrients for plants are 1) nitrogen, 2) phosphorus, and 3) potassium.

Of this, Japan imports more than 90% of its phosphoric acid (raw material: phosphate rock) from China, which accounts for 40% of the world market share.

Canada holds the top spot in the world for potash (the raw material is potash ore). What about second and third place?

Russia came in second and Belarus in third. That's crazy, isn't it?

The price of natural gas, which is the raw material for hydrogen (Russia has the second largest share in the world), is also soaring. Phosphoric acid prices are skyrocketing again due to China's reluctance to return production to its domestic market.

And potassium... Russia and Belarus are no longer on the international market.

It begins to make sense why China and Russia are so aggressive, and even North Korea is like that .