They’re Making Liquid Fertilizer From Almond Shells

They’re Making Liquid Fertilizer From Almond Shells FERTILIZER APPLICATION Nitricity’s recipe for their Ash Tea 3-0-0 5 organic fertilizer is simple Add water almond shells air and biomass and heat with renewable electricity to release the nutrients and steep While the proprietary technology is much more involved the end products are straightforward Nitricity will be marketing a liquid fertilizer ready to be applied directly to the crop or through irrigation systems in-season and a nutrient-rich solid that can be used as compost in an early-season application “Initially we were making a calcium nitrate product using an electric process to fix the nitrogen from the air and capture it in water with added limestone ” says Joshua McEnaney co-founder and chief technical officer of Nitricity “More recently we adapted our process to use biomaterials to make an organic fast-acting nitrogen source It’s designed for irrigation systems and can be delivered to the farm in standard totes or by the tanker truck ” The Ash Tea is a second act for the innovative company founded in 2018 The founders set a goal to make a fertilizer that released fewer greenhouse gases was free of animal inputs pathogens and odors worked in irrigation systems and was produced using renewable energy Another goal was to design systems that could serve farmers in the surrounding area rather than shipping products from one central plant After several versions of pilot plants they built a small sample production facility in Fremont Calif and began producing calcium nitrate “About a year and a half ago we refocused on developing a liquid organic product ” says McEnaney “Unlike organic fertilizers like chicken litter Ash Tea has no bad odors or pathogens ” Thanks in part to a $4 million grant from the USDA Nitricity will be building systems to support a second and larger plant in Delhi Calif It’ll have a production capacity of 375 000 lbs of nitrogen as liquid fertilizer “We’re targeting specialty crop producers in the valley but we can work with any crop ” says McEnaney “The price will start at $10 to $15 per lb but we hope to lower it as we introduce different blends We’ll be comparable to other organic fertilizers in the market ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Nitricity Inc 44530 S Grimmer Blvd Fremont Calif 94538 www nitricity co

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.