Estimation of the Potential Global Nitrogen Flow in a Nitrogen Recycling System with Industrial Countermeasures

Kiyotaka Tsunemi (), Tohru Kawamoto and Hideyuki Matsumoto
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Kiyotaka Tsunemi: Research Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8569, Japan
Tohru Kawamoto: Nanomaterials Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8565, Japan
Hideyuki Matsumoto: Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: This study proposes a nitrogen recycling system that collects and recycles nitrogen compounds from waste gases in the industrial sector, such as those from stationary sources, from industrially processed wastewater containing livestock effluent, and from household wastewater. Multiple scenarios are set, and the potential global flows of anthropogenic nitrogen in 2050 are estimated and compared to assess the effects on the largest planetary boundary problem. In contrast to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, in which environmental conditions are worsened through a 47% increase in nitrogen emissions by 2050 above the 2010 levels, the agricultural countermeasures scenario produced a reduction in emissions which was less than the 2010 levels. The industrial countermeasures scenario proposed in this study achieved comfortable reductions in nitrogen production by constructing a nitrogen recycling system that installs the nitrogen compounds to ammonia (NTA) technologies. Combining the agricultural and industrial countermeasures achieves a 66% reduction in nitrogen emissions compared with the BAU scenario in 2050. The combination of both countermeasures with a high installation rate of NTA technologies can achieve the reduction of nitrogen emissions beneath the planetary boundary.

Keywords: substance flow analysis; nitrogen compounds; industrial countermeasures; environmental emission; planetary boundary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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