An Irish start-up company is hoping to help farmers to use the science behind lightning to produce their own nitrogen.

Wildsurge Technologies was present in Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Arena at the National Ploughing Championships. It has developed a system that takes nitrogen from the air to produce a nitrate-rich liquid fertiliser using electricity.

Laurence Scally, founder of Wildsurge Technologies, alongside co-founders Roisin McLoughlin, Ross Forde and David Scally, told the Irish Farmers Journal that the plasma technology is like having “lightning in a jar”.

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The liquid fertiliser can be applied as a foliar spray to grassland or crops. The concentration of nitrogen in the water can be adjusted depending on the needs of the crop it will be applied to.

The technology is still at an early stage, producing 10 litres of fertiliser per hour at a low nitrogen concentration, but Laurence thinks it could become available to all farmers, big and small.

“We're constantly improving the efficiency and are developing an improved system design that will increase our process efficiency and total yields,” he commented.

Solar

While this technology has the potential to insulate farmers from high fertiliser prices, it does need a supply of electricity, which has also risen in cost. Therefore, the system is being designed with renewable energy sources such as solar in mind.

Laurence noted: “Because this is an electrical process, it has piqued the interest of farmers who've made the switch to solar or have considered the transition.

“Our intention is to use this new design for pilot-scale testing in the next two to three months and further assess using solar power to offset the electrical costs.”

The Irish Farmers Journal will keep you up-to-date in the coming months with further updates from Wildsurge Technologies as it progresses through pilot testing.