Cyanobacteria (961930)

  https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/961930

  Horizon 2020 (2014-2020)

  Developing an organic fertilizer production system using nitrogen fixing Cyanobacteria

  SME instrument (EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020)

  sustainable agriculture  ·  irrigation  ·  natural gas  ·  business models  ·  horticulture

  2020-08-01 Start Date (YY-MM-DD)

  2023-01-31 End Date (YY-MM-DD)

  € 3,501,250 Total Cost

  Description

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

  Complicit Organisations

1 Israeli organisation participates in Cyanobacteria.