Descripción del proyecto
Un fertilizante innovador sintetizado a partir del aire y el agua
La industria de los fertilizantes nitrogenados consume una gran cantidad de recursos y es responsable de más del 2 % del consumo energético mundial. También contribuye de forma notable al calentamiento del planeta. Además, los fertilizantes orgánicos actuales son caros, inestables y no favorecen un crecimiento vigoroso en invernaderos hidropónicos y cultivos de regadío avanzados. El proyecto Cyanobacteria, financiado con fondos europeos, está desarrollando un fertilizante innovador que se produce de forma ecológica y eficiente a partir del aire y el agua en la propia explotación agrícola. Las cianobacterias crecen en un ambiente controlado y fijan constantemente nitrógeno del aire en una forma estable de amoníaco utilizando el sol como fuente de energía. De esta forma se extrae amoníaco que, seguidamente, se transforma en nitrato por bacterias especializadas.
Objetivo
Global consumption of Nitrogen based fertilizers today exceeds 120 million metric tons a year, mostly originating in the Haber-Bosch process. This industry is a sizeable resource consumer, using 3-5% of the global natural gas supply and accounting for 1-2% of global energy expenditures. It’s also a major contributor to global warming, releasing about 10 tons of CO2 for every ton of N fertilizer produced . This is one of the major concerns that has led to double digit growth rates in organic agriculture in recent years. However, organic fertilizers currently on the market are expensive, unstable and fail to support robust, commercial growth in hydroponic greenhouses or in advanced irrigation farms.
Our innovation produces Nitrogen fertilizer from air and water in an efficient and ecological manner at the actual site of the farm or greenhouse. Cyanobacteria grown in a controlled environment, constantly fix nitrogen from the air into a stable form of ammonia, using the sun as the energy source. The ammonia is then extracted and converted to nitrate by specialized bacteria in an automated process. This solution shifts the way greenhouses acquire their N inputs, from importing an industrial product with a high CO2 footprint to sustainably producing it in situ.
GrowPonics utilizes a builder – operator business model - it constructs the project or greenhouse at the client’s site, and then supports its day to day operation. Our clients / partners rely on us to provide cutting edge technologies in horticulture and hydroponics. The cyanobacteria fertilizer project, among others, will contribute to the positioning of GrowPonics as a world leading company in ecological / organic hydroponics and advanced agriculture. Our clients will be able to bolster an ecological branding, and in many cases, to sell their produce as certified organic. Together with other technologies currently in development, such as an automated inspection robot, GrowPonics will be able to offer its client
Ámbito científico
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturesustainable agriculture
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigation
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfossil energynatural gas
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulture
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020-3
Régimen de financiación
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinador
2703309 Kiryat Bialik
Israel
Organización definida por ella misma como pequeña y mediana empresa (pyme) en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de subvención.