Fertiliser Shortages

SoylentGreen · Heavy Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 168

a fertilizer shortage will never be comprehended by congress, they armpit deep in the stuff 24/7/365

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 843

Natural gas is a raw material in many of our products we depend on.

Almost all the helium we produce comes from natural gas.

Propane, synthetic fertilizers, ammonia?

They are totally dependent on natural gas.

Our population boom was fueled by synthetic fertilizers made from natural; gas. Once the gas dries up so does the fertilizer and a shortage of fertilizer equals a shortage of food.

We will run out of natural gas, just as we deplete our crude supplies in the near future.

Gerben · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:31 pm Post subject: Re: Fertiliser Shortages

Natural gas is used to make fertiliser in multiple steps. The fist step is to make hydrogen from the natural gas. You don't need natural gas however. Other energysources can also be used to make hydrogen, like coal and biomass. Before we can think of a hydrogen economy, we should make a transition in the way we produce our hydrogen as a chemical feedstock, before thinking of new ways to use hydrogen.