Translations:Fertilizer/8/en
The 1910s and 1920s witnessed the rise of the Haber process and the Ostwald process. The Haber process produces ammonia (NH3) from methane (CH4) (natural gas) gas and molecular nitrogen (N2) from the air. The ammonia from the Haber process is then partially converted into nitric acid (HNO3) in the Ostwald process. It is estimated that a third of annual global food production uses ammonia from the Haber–Bosch process and that this supports nearly half the world's population. After World War II, nitrogen production plants that had ramped up for wartime bomb manufacturing were pivoted towards agricultural uses. The use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers has increased steadily over the last 50 years, rising almost 20-fold to the current rate of 100 million tonnes of nitrogen per year.