Challenge 4: Indigenous Plasma-Based Nitrogen Fertiliser

Back Challenge 4: Indigenous Plasma-Based Nitrogen Fertiliser Challenge 1: Individual Animal Identification for India’s Livestock Challenge 2: AI for Accelerated Crop Breeding Challenge 3: AI-Enabled Technologies for Small-Scale Inland Aquaculture

Challenge 4: Indigenous Plasma-Based Nitrogen Fertiliser

The 2026 Strait of Hormuz disruption showed how exposed India is to imported nitrogen fertiliser. Plasma technology offers a path to making plant-available nitrogen from just air, water, and electricity, close to the farm. This challenge, a Government of India request co-designed with the Gates Foundation, invites teams to build indigenous plasma systems with a clear pathway toward ≤1 MJ/mol N, against the BARC baseline of ~12.8 MJ/mol N, and a levelized cost of ≤$450/MT urea-equivalent. Proposals must show Indian-origin IP with a localisation plan, characterise the reactive species in their product, demonstrate agronomic safety, and present a compliant FCO regulatory pathway.

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