A chokepoint better known for oil is exposing another pressure point in the global economy: fertilizer. With nearly a third of the world’s fertilizer moving through the Strait of Hormuz, disruption linked to the Iran conflict has added pressure to food prices and renewed attention on startups trying to make plant nutrients closer to where they are used.
Conventional fertilizer still relies heavily on the century-old Haber process, which uses natural gas. That leaves countries without large gas reserves exposed when shipping routes, energy supplies or fertilizer exports are disrupted.
The development could affect how farmers and wastewater plants think about nutrients. Ostara captures nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants in the United States and turns them into fertilizer. Finland’s NPHarvest uses membranes and chemistry to recover nutrients with less energy, while helping treatment plants comply with European disposal rules.
“We help them save money,” NPHarvest cofounder and business developer Burak Yirmibesoglu said. The company’s fertilizer is now in pilot testing with early customers and, according to Yirmibesoglu, could be sold below the cost of conventional fertilizer because the water-treatment savings are part of the business model.
Recovered Potential, a Stanford spinout, is taking another route by using electricity to extract ammonia from wastewater. Cofounder and CEO Kindle Williams said the company can target ammonia instead of pulling out everything in the water. “In other words, we zap wastewater until we pull fertilizer out,” Williams said.
There are limits. Williams estimates wastewater nutrients could offset only 20% to 30% of conventional fertilizer demand, and the economics depend partly on strict wastewater rules.
Other startups are pursuing microbes, renewable energy and farm waste. Nitricity cofounder and CEO Nicolas Pinkowski said local production could reduce price swings for import-reliant countries. “We think it is possible to do so economically,” he said. “And the supply chain benefits are absolutely needed.”
