How we fix fertilizers without fossil fuels
A bioelectrochemical platform that replaces the two-step incumbent process with one biological step. No hydrogen production, no Haber-Bosch reactor. Air, water, and green electricity in; green fertilizers out.
Nitrogen feeds the world, but the way we fix it is broken
The Haber-Bosch process has fed billions of people since its invention over a century ago. But it is entirely dependent on fossil fuels, and the cracks in this system are widening.
A climate liability
Ammonia production is one of the largest industrial CO2 emitters, responsible for 2.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. For every ton of ammonia produced today, 2.9 tons of CO2 are released. This process is entirely powered by natural gas.
A financial burden on farmers
When gas markets are disrupted, fertilizer prices follow. Prices surged roughly 50% in early 2022 after the shut off of Russian natural gas, and EU ammonia production dropped 70%. The 2026 Strait of Hormuz tensions have demonstrated, once again, how vulnerable the supply chain remains.
Policy pressure is mounting
The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is adding cost to carbon-intensive fertilizer imports. The EU Farm to Fork strategy targets significant reductions in nutrient losses. Regulation is tightening around the incumbent model from both sides: emissions costs up, environmental standards up.
Environmental damage
Synthetic fertilizers leach into waterways, causing algal blooms, dead zones, and contamination of drinking water. Biostimulants and locally produced fertilizers dramatically reduce this runoff, keeping nutrients where they belong: in the soil.
Biology replaces the Haber-Bosch process
Ammonia is the essential building block of virtually all nitrogen fertilizers. The conventional approach to decarbonising its production still requires two steps: green electricity to produce hydrogen via electrolysis, then hydrogen to ammonia via the same Haber-Bosch process. Two capital expenditure lines, extreme temperatures and pressures, and all the complexity that comes with them.
Synanthra takes a fundamentally different approach. A genetically engineered microorganism fixes nitrogen bioelectrochemically in a single step, at room temperature, using only green electricity. Biology is integrated directly into the electrochemical process. One system. No hydrogen. No Haber-Bosch. Same output.
A scissors effect in our favour
Their costs are rising
Conventional fertilizer production is tied to natural gas prices, which remain volatile and structurally exposed to geopolitical disruption. Carbon pricing (EU CBAM) is adding direct cost to every ton of imported nitrogen. The incumbent economics are moving in one direction: up.
Our costs are falling
Synanthra's platform runs on green electricity, the cost of which drops year on year as renewable and nuclear capacity expands. We fix nitrogen from air at room temperature with no fossil fuel inputs. Our techno-economic modelling shows green fertilizer production at a fraction of the cost of conventional nitrogen. The longer you wait, the wider the gap.
Producing green fertilizers using a circular economy
Synanthra's model turns agricultural and industrial co-products into valuable outputs: biostimulants and green nitrate fertilizers. Nutrients go back to the growers who need them, closing the loop.
For the climate
Eliminating fossil fuels from nitrogen fixation removes one of the largest sources of industrial CO2 emissions. Zero-emission fertilizer production, powered by green electricity, at any scale.
For food security
Decentralised, on-farm production removes the vulnerability that comes with depending on global gas markets and long supply chains. Nutrients are produced where they are consumed.
For energy independence
At industrial scale, ammonia produced from green electricity becomes both a fertilizer feedstock and an energy carrier. Countries can produce their own nutrients and store renewable energy without importing fossil fuels.
From laboratory to impact
Synanthra was founded in October 2024 in Evry-Courcouronnes, France, part of the Genopole ecosystem (UpScale Bio), with a clear conviction: the way we fix nitrogen must change.
In fewer than 18 months, the company has secured Bpifrance Deep Tech accreditation, won five pitch competitions across deep tech, agriculture, and clean energy, and joined the Blue Fellowship (daphni) and WILCO One CleanTech & Energy.
Today, Synanthra operates from Genopole (Evry-Courcouronnes) and the Fab Lab at Sorbonne Universite, Paris. The team is building the platform that will replace fossil fuels in fertilizer production.
The question is not whether nitrogen fixation will change. It is who will change it.
We are looking for investors, partners, and talent who want to be part of the answer.