Oslo, Norway: N2 Applied, the European agricultural technology business, today announced that it has completed a further fundraising of NOK 83 million from existing shareholders to accelerate the commercial rollout of technology that converts animal manure into sustainable fertiliser while trapping greenhouse gases.

Investors participating in the latest round, which was led by CEO Carl Hansson and follows a similar level of investment late last year, include Blue River Invest, Holta Invest, Joh.Johansen/NorgesGruppen and Ramussengruppen, in addition to new investors.

N2 Applied has run multiple trials and pilot projects across nine countries that have shown practical elimination of emissions and improved grassland yields, as well as the ability to suppress odours from ammonia leakage. Following this, the business is now moving to offer both further trials and full international commercial availability of its technology, as dairy brands and individual farms seek to reduce emissions from their supply and production chains.

While lowering carbon dioxide emissions is key to managing the effects of climate change, methane is also a potent greenhouse gas, with the recent United Nations IPCC report and its Economic Commission for Europe outlining that it contains more than 80 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

Using a scientific technique that applies just air and electricity to slurry, the technology within the N2 Unit performs a plasma conversion that ‘locks in’ both methane and ammonia to the liquid waste material, producing a sustainable fertiliser. Treated slurry produced on-farm has the potential to reduce the need for chemical fertiliser, and therefore further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Technology that practically eliminates methane and ammonia emissions has profound implications for the dairy food sector and farms of many sizes. Having proven the scientific capabilities of the N2 Units across multiple trials and environments, this latest investment enables us to accelerate the commercial rollout to a dairy sector that has set ambitious net-zero goals on emissions, for which methane is an enormous factor,” said Carl Hansson, CEO, N2 Applied.

“As the dairy industry moves to counter its environmental impact, it is seeking out practical innovation that can tackle the biggest problems while introducing new farming practices. Combined, this supports an approach to sustainable food production that can enable more people to be fed with far-reduced impact on our world,” he said.

“We see great potential in this technology as a practical and innovative solution to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in the dairy industry. We believe that moving to this commercial phase will be important to start realising the promise of N2 Applied after their encouraging trials and pilot projects,” said Signe Bunkholt Sæter, Director Sustainability at NorgesGruppen.