Nitrogen is critical for farming at scale and without some form of nitrogen to enrich the soil, we couldn’t grow staple crops efficiently enough to feed our large global population.Serious science goes into the production of fertilizers and the Birkeland-Eyde process was one early example.It uses electrical arcs to turn nitrogen in the air into nitric acid.
Marb is an enthusiastic citizen scientist and built his own experimental reactor to harness the Birkeland-Eyde process.The Birkeland-Eyde process was largely phased out a century ago, because it is inefficient due to the high energy requirements.It needs a lot of energy to create the electric arcs—too much energy to be practical at the scale necessary for modern industrial farming.
But efficiency isn’t a major concern for Marb, who is more interested in the science than fertilizer production.Creating an electrical arc isn’t very difficult, but controlling it is more challenging.For that reason, Marb used an Arduino UNO Rev3 to oversee his DIY reactor.
Through a breakout shield, the Arduino controls the flow of power to the arc electrodes.That requires a large power supply, transformers, and a boost converter. The rest of the reactor is devoted to the containment, preparation, and flow of air.The Birkeland-Eyde process works best with dry air, so Marb’s design pumps air through a desiccant-packed tube and into the reaction chamber where the electrodes meet.
Sensors, like a temperature sensor, help the Arduino gain feedback on the conditions.
Marb’s video ends with a demonstration, but he hasn’t yet refined the reaction process for maximum yields.If there is enough interest, Marb says that he’ll make a follow-up video with more detail.
