China’s green fertilizer demo doesn’t lower hydrogen demand — but it may cut agriculture’s biggest emissions blind spot
China’s latest move in green fertilizer chemistry hasn’t made headlines, but it represents a quietly significant development. A new facility in Xinjiang will soon be producing half a million tonnes of oxamide fertilizer per year — using captured CO₂, green hydrogen, and green ammonia. That sentence alone folds in three separate decarbonization strategies: carbon utilization, electrolysis-based hydrogen, and low-emissions ammonia, at least one of which I tend to be skeptical of. At first glance, this appears to be an all-in-one play for reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture’s most critical input. But as always, the story becomes more complex when the molecular math is unpacked.
Oxamide serves multiple industrial purposes, with its primary applications in fertilizers, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, and plastics. The global oxamide market was valued at approximately USD$1.2 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD$2.1 billion by 2032. The agriculture sector already uses oxamide as a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer and represents a significant portion of this demand. Additionally, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries contribute substantially, employing oxamide…