‘Plasma reactor’ from Haarlem may solve nitrogen crisis

Haarlem-based firm Kapiteinlabs may have some good news for the agricultural sector: Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) confirmed the efficacy of a device designed to remove ammonia from agricultural emissions. If tests on farms confirm the lab results, the Bluereactor could be the answer to the nitrogen crisis that had farmers up in arms over the past few weeks, general manager André Kapitein told Haarlems Dagblad (link in Dutch).

The Bluereactor was originally developed for another agricultural application: killing bacteria and viruses in the ‘exhaust’ of barns. The core technology is a cloud of plasma that kills microbes but, as it turns out, can also destroy or neutralize chemicals. This is useful for deodorizing industrial waste gasses, Kapiteinlab realized. While working on that application, the company found the plasma can also neutralize ammonia.