Using a new life cycle assessment a range different nitrogen concentration fertilizers was analyzed using a basis of one

ton of winter wheat in rothamsted England. This long term trial looked at the environmental effect of the different concentrations using a cradle to grave approach. The aim of the study is to identify the most efficient usage concentration of nitrogen fertilizers in Europe in order to meet demands of population inflation, to reduce variability an assumed concentration, based on experiments at broadbalk field, are made for annual potash, phosphate and magnesium fertilizer. Using the following range of N0 (0 kg/Ha), N1 (48 Kg/Ha), N2 (96 Kg/Ha), N3 (144 Kg/Ha), N4 (192 Kg/Ha), N5 (240 Kg/Ha) and N6 (288 Kg/Ha). A variety of variables are looked at and an overall conclusion is produced. The following variables are considered, land use; climate change; acidification; terrestrial and aquatic eutrophication.

The main fossil fuel used is natural gas which is mainly used in the production of ammonia, the usage increases linearly with the amount of nitrogen fertilizer used also leading to a higher percentage of greenhouse emissions NO2 is also released because of ammonia production while CO2 is released because of energy utilization during production and transport of farm requirements. The emissions affect global warming potential and therefore climate change. The GWP increases, almost linearly, with the use of fertilizer as they are proportional to the concentration of nitrogen dominating the GWP because although NO2 emissions are much lower than CO2, NO2 causes 310% higher GWP than CO2. To produce a ton of wheat the amount of land used decreases with an increase in fertilizer usage, creating another variable as the difference can be used for other industries, roads etc. After looking at different factors such as soil preparation, plant protection measures and base fertilization it was determined that plots with N4, N5 and N6 showed a Naturalness Degradation Factor less that 900 m2, 4 times less than the amount used by N0 which was 3865m2.

Acidification looks at the percentage of SO2 produced which in turn affects acidification in ecosystems the more rigorous the production the higher the NH3 contribution and SO2 becomes less relevant. The results showed that the lowest acidification potential was produced by N2 while N6 created 36% higher production getting the highest acidification potential. The range was 0.64 Kg of SO2/ ton of grain. Eutrophication is the final variable which is divided into aquatic and terrestrial effects as they are affected differently by both NH3 (from fertilizers) and NOx (transport and tractors). Aquatic eutrophication mainly looks at the effect on algae, at concentrations higher than N3 NO3 leeching dominates the Aquatic potential as N6 released 420% kg more PO4 than N4. Terrestrial eutrophication mainly considers the effect on plants and is primarily effected by atmospheric deposition of nutrients on ecosystems. For the lower concentrations (N0, N1, N2) NOx is the main cause of eutrophication but as the concentration of nitrogen fertilizer increases the NH3 releases increasing overtaking the NOx causing more damage to the ecosystem. Finally a weighing factor is used to relate individual factors to the harm the factor varies depending on the effect on the natural resources, ecosystems and human health and normalized factors are used for the usage of phosphate rocks and fossil fuels. For: N0-N1: Main environmental concerns are from the overuse of land. The climate change is mainly caused by NOx release due to tractor, equipment usage. N2-N3: Shows the optimum level for environmental concerns, the land requirement decreases enough to compensate the increase in climate change caused by emissions. N4-N6: The harms caused by emissions out weight the decrease in required land they are not advisable This concluded that the best environmental performance can be achieved by: Maintaining optimum yields to use land more efficiently Applying nitrogen fertilizer according to demand in order to reduce NOx leaching Using fertilizers with low NH3 production keeping eutrophication and acidification low Using scrubber techniques to reduce N2O emissions therefore reducing GWP.

Reference: F Brentrup, J Ksters, J Lammel, P Barraclough, H Kuhlmann, Environmental impact assessment of agricultural production systems using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology II. The application to N fertilizer use in winter wheat production systems, European Journal of Agronomy, Volume 20, Issue 3, February 2004, Pages 265-279, ISSN 1161-0301, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1161-0301(03)00039-X.