Preserving the environment

In terms of environmental protection, Yara's factory in Sluiskil, Netherlands, is representative of other similar production plants across Europe.

What has really been achieved in recent years?

Reducing energy consumption

Production of fertilizer requires energy. It is provided by the natural gas used as raw material for fertilizer production. Energy consumption for fertilizer production has been reduced exponentially and Yara's factories are today operating close to the theoretical minimum.

As a side effect to fertilizer production, Yara factories produce electrical energy which is used inhouse or fed into the public grid.

Reducing air pollution

Air pollution can be gaseous (mainly ammonia and NOx) or dusty (nitrate or urea dust). All emissions need to be monitored and minimized.

Over the last three decades, emissions from Yara's factories in Sluiskil have been reduced three times over.

Reducing GHG emissions

Ferilizer production is energy intensive and therefore produces greenhouse gases. These are mainly CO2 and N2O.

• Reusing part of the CO2 within the production cycle can reduce CO2emissions. Yara plants provide CO2 to horticulture, to the food & beverage industry, as dry ice for cooling and for other industrial applications. CO2 from the ammonia production is also used for urea production. These CO2 uses cannot eliminate CO2 but represents transient storage.
• N2O is a very powerful greenhouse gas, with a climate impact 296 times stronger than CO2. Eliminating N2O therefore is a priority. Yara has developed a catalyst technology, which mitigates 90% of N2O emissions and thus significantly reduces the carbon footprint of fertilizer production. Yara catalyst technology was first applied in Yara's Montoir factory in France and is now used in all European factories.

Recycling heat and CO2

Fertilizer production creates heat. This heat is either lost or reused. Since 2009, a pilot project in Yara's Sluiskil plant provides heat to neighbouring greenhouses.

In 2017, 148ha of greenhouses will benefit from this cooperation. 1700 TJ/y of energy is thus saved, corresponding to 34,000 average Dutch households. In addition, 60,000t of CO2 are delivered to stimulate crop growth.

Biological cleansing of water

Very clean water is needed at various steps in the production process. In a semi-industrial test scheme in Yara's Sluiskil plant, algae are used to remove unwanted nutrients from the incoming and outgoing water. Various industries use biomass produced by algae.