Does nitrogen present any environmental concerns?
– Nitrogen gas is relatively inert and non-polluting. However, there are many problems with the excess use of other nitrogen compounds, especially fertilizer. When farmers apply fertilizer to their soil, only a small amount is absorbed by their crops. Much of the fertilizer, which is very soluble, is washed away. In the central United States, some of this fertilizer is washed down the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, where if feeds algae blooms. When the algae die, their decaying bodies absorb so much oxygen that it creates a dead zone, where fish and other marine life cannot live. The size of this dead zone varies from year to year, averaging about 6,000 square miles.
