Endesa has donated 68,000 liters of urea to farmers on La Palma whose farmland was affected by the Cumbre Vieja volcano. Urea is a highly appreciated component as a fertilizer in the agricultural sector due to its rich nitrogen content, an element that contributes to the healthy growth of plants.
Until recently, urea was also used as a catalyst to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in thermal power plants, but it has been replaced by ammonia, which is even more effective when performing this function. Therefore, the quantities of urea stored in the deposits of the Granadilla and Barranco de Tirajana power plants, in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, respectively, had become obsolete.
Manuel Rubias, director of the Tenerife thermal power plants, explains that “urea was used to react with nitrogen oxides and transform them into molecular nitrogen, thus reducing the nitrogen oxides in the gases. On the other hand, along the same lines, ammonia is now used in the process of Selective Catalytic Reactors, in operation since 2021, and its mission is the same as urea”. Given this circumstance, Endesa has given a second chance to the fertilizer stored in its facilities, contributing to the circular economy and sustainable development with the donation of 68,000 liters of urea, which will be packaged in 34,000 bottles, and which will go to farmers , who have suffered the consequences of the volcano.
