Green Chemistry is proud to present the Green Chemistry Emerging Investigators Series, showcasing work being conducted by Emerging Investigators. This collection aims to highlight the excellent research being carried out by researchers in the early stages of their independent career from across the breadth of green chemistry. For more information about this series, click here
Among the contributions to this series, there is an article entitled Optimal design of decentralized ammonia production via electric Haber–Bosch systems
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Ammonia-based fertilizers support food production for roughly half of the global population, while ammonia is also emerging as a clean-energy carrier for industry, power, and transport. This study shows that small, local ammonia plants powered by grid electricity or nearby renewable energy can be economically competitive with today’s large centralized facilities in some regions, especially when transport costs and supply-chain risks are considered. |
Read our interview with the corresponding author Dr Lorenzo Rosa below.
How would you set this article in a wider context?
This work sits at the intersection of the chemical industry, the energy transition, and global food-energy security. Ammonia is essential for modern agriculture, yet its production today is largely centralized, heavily dependent on fossil fuels, and concentrated in a limited number of regions, making fertilizer markets vulnerable to energy price volatility, geopolitical tensions, and trade disruptions. Recent events such as the 2022 energy crisis and risks to key shipping routes like the Strait of Hormuz have highlighted these vulnerabilities. By evaluating decentralized, low-carbon ammonia production pathways, the article contributes to broader efforts to decarbonize one of the world’s most important industrial chemicals, strengthen supply-chain resilience, and improve access to affordable fertilizers for farmers. More broadly, it illustrates how clean-energy technologies can simultaneously advance climate goals, industrial transformation, and resilience worldwide.
What is the motivation behind this work?
The central motivation behind this work is the need to make ammonia fertilizer supply more resilient, affordable, and sustainable. Today’s ammonia production is highly carbon-intensive, geographically concentrated, and reliant on long-distance transport networks, which increase costs and expose farmers, especially those in remote, import-dependent, or food-insecure region, to price spikes and supply disruptions. Recent energy and geopolitical crises have shown how vulnerable these systems can be. Decentralized, low-carbon ammonia technologies offer a potential alternative by producing fertilizer closer to where it is needed, reducing emissions, lowering dependence on fragile global supply chains, and supporting the broader transition to net-zero food and energy systems.
What aspects of this work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about it?
What excites me most is seeing startups and industrial innovators actively developing these technologies through real pilot projects and commercial applications, supported by growing venture capital investment. It is encouraging that our work can help inform and support these efforts by providing an in-depth assessment of where decentralized ammonia production is most viable, which pathways are most promising, and how these systems could contribute to more resilient and low-carbon fertilizer supply chains. At the same time, some of the most innovative pathways—particularly electrocatalytic ammonia production—are still at an early stage of technological readiness and require substantial advances in materials science, efficiency, and scale-up before they can compete commercially. Another major challenge is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution: widespread adoption across regions with very different electricity prices, renewable energy resources, infrastructure quality, and policy environments will likely require locally tailored business models, incentives, and regulatory support.
What is the next step? What work is planned?
The next step is to translate these findings into practical guidance for implementation. This includes advisory work with industry partners and startups developing decentralized ammonia technologies. For example, I currently serve as an advisor for Ammobia (https://www.ammobia.co/), a technology company developing a low-pressure “Haber-Bosch 2.0” system, helping identify the most promising markets, business models, and deployment strategies for low-carbon fertilizer systems. We also plan to contribute to policy reports that can support appropriate regulation, incentives, and agricultural extension programs so that farmers and local communities can effectively benefit from these systems.
On the research side, an important priority is to move from global assessments to regional and country-level analyses. Local studies are needed to evaluate how factors such as electricity prices, renewable energy availability, infrastructure, fertilizer demand, and farming systems shape the feasibility of decentralized ammonia production in specific contexts. This will help ensure that future deployment is both economically viable and socially beneficial.
Please describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher
My journey to becoming an independent researcher has been shaped by a strong motivation to address real-world sustainability challenges at the intersection of water, food, energy, and climate change. I began with training in environmental engineering, where I developed quantitative skills in systems analysis, modeling, and resource management. During my PhD and postdoctoral work, I focused on understanding how human and natural systems interact under growing environmental pressures, particularly how water scarcity, agriculture, and energy transitions affect global sustainability.
Over time, I moved from contributing to existing projects to leading my own research agenda, developing new questions, building interdisciplinary collaborations, and mentoring students and early-career researchers. This transition was supported by opportunities to work across leading academic environments and engage with scientists, engineers, and policymakers from different fields.
Today, as an independent researcher, I lead projects that combine engineering, Earth system science, and decision analysis to evaluate innovative solutions—from sustainable irrigation to low-carbon ammonia production. What has guided me throughout this journey is the belief that research should not only advance knowledge, but also provide practical pathways toward a more resilient and sustainable future.
Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?
Choose research questions that genuinely matter to you and have real societal relevance, because curiosity and purpose are what sustain you through the inevitable setbacks of an academic career. At the same time, invest as much in people as in publications: build strong collaborations, seek mentors, support peers, and treat students generously. Careers often advance not only through good ideas, but through trust, reputation, and the communities you help create.
Why did you choose to publish in Green Chemistry?
I chose to publish in Green Chemistry because it is a leading journal at the forefront of sustainable chemical innovation and reaches a broad audience working on decarbonization, clean industrial processes, and resource-efficient technologies. The journal is an excellent fit for research on low-carbon ammonia production, which connects chemistry, energy systems, and sustainability.
I was also encouraged to submit this work by André Bardow, who recommended the journal after I presented this research during a talk at ETH Zurich. That recommendation reinforced my view that this study would resonate strongly with the journal’s readership.
Meet the author
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Dr Lorenzo Rosa is a Principal Investigator at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford. He is an environmental engineer whose work focuses on designing resilient water, energy, and food systems through the integration of systems modeling, hydrologic simulation, techno-economic and life-cycle assessment, optimization, geospatial data science, and machine learning. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and completed postdoctoral training at ETH Zurich in the Institute of Energy and Process Engineering. His research examines how environmental systems respond to climate stress and resource constraints, with applications spanning water resources and scarcity management, sustainable agricultural systems, and decarbonization of fertilizers and fuels. Dr. Rosa collaborates with academic, industry, and policy partners to translate research into practice through pilot-scale demonstrations and real-world implementation pathways. His contributions have been recognized with several honors, including the American Geophysical Union Science for Solutions Award and the Leonardo Award in Engineering. He was also named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and Technology and included in the 2025 Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list.Top of Form
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