| Fertilizer
Production
In
1980 the developing countries accounted for 31% of the world
nitrogen fertilizer production. By 2000 their share had
increased to 57%.
Over a third of the world's production is in just two countries,
China and India.
Almost all nitrogen fertilizers are produced from a hydrocarbon
source, which provides both hydrogen feedstock and energy. The
most economic and least polluting source is natural gas. There
are natural gas deposits in many countries, and the production
of nitrogen fertilizers is much more widespread than that of
phosphate or potash. Urea, the most common nitrogen fertilizers,
is produced in about 60 countries.
95% of the phosphate rock is processed with
sulphuric acid to manufacture phosphoric acid. About 27
million tonnes of sulphur are used annually for this purpose.
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