As an essential component of amino acids, nitrogen is a fundamental building block of all life. Without the element with the symbol N, there would be no metabolism, no protein and no DNA – neither in plants nor in animals or humans. Nitrogen constitutes nearly two kilograms of the weight of a 70-kilogram adult.
Ninety-nine percent of all nitrogen on Earth is in the air. However, only a few plants from the bean family (legume family) can, with the aid of bacteria, absorb nitrogen directly from the atmosphere. All others require the solid nitrogen compounds contained in arable soil and consumed by the plants. That’s why over 80 percent of the world’s nitrogen production – some 40 million tons per year – is used just to produce chemical fertilizers.