Addis Energy: further funding for geologic ammonia production

Ferrous rocks, water, nitrogen, catalysts, and geological heat & pressure

Click to enlarge. Graphical representation of Addis Energy’s subsurface ammonia production concept. From “Geological ammonia: Stimulated NH3 production from rocks”, Joule (Vol. 9, February 2025).

US-based Addis Energy announced they have closed an $8.3 million oversubscribed seed round to progress work on subsurface production of ammonia, via the strategic injection of feedstock materials. Currently at the laboratory bench stage, Addis is developing chemical reactors that simulate subsurface conditions, “leverag[ing] the chemical potential of iron plus the natural heat and pressure of the subsurface”.

By merging chemical innovation developed out of MIT with on-the-ground oil and gas industry experience, Addis Energy is enabling energy abundance and affordability, and creating new economic opportunities for domestic energy production with zero emissions. Considering the U.S. imports ~12% of the domestic ammonia supply, we have a timely opportunity to create a new platform for U.S.-led, domestic clean fuel and chemical production. This funding will allow us to scale our novel approach to ammonia production and get ‘shovel-ready’ for our first pilot.

Michael Alexander, CEO and C-founder of Addis Energy, in his organisation’s official press release, 4 Dec 2025

Launched in January 2025, Addis received $4.5 million in ARPA-E funding from the US Department of Energy earlier this year. The company was born out of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Seeking alternatives to the energy-intensive Haber Bosch process:

…ammonia is produced by injecting nitrate-containing water into iron-rich formations. Through a chemical redox reaction, ferrous iron in the rock converts nitrate into NH3 under ambient conditions and subsurface heat and pressure (130°C–300°C and 0.25–8.5 MPa). This geological process does not require H2, electricity, or application of external temperature or pressure, and emits no CO2. Our work paves the way for using Earth’s subsurface as a reactor, with abundant rocks as feedstock, to theoretically produce enough NH3 for 2.42 million years…

Abstract from “Geological ammonia: Stimulated NH3 production from rocks”, Joule (Vol. 9, February 2025)

In the coming months, Addis Energy will work to complete its US-wide geological mapping exercise – identifying ideal subsurface conditions –  and prepare for its first pilot field test.