2019-09-02 Bloomberg Businessweek

17

Cl

Chlorine

32

Bloomberg

Businessweek

/

SEPTEMBER

2,

2019

THE

ELEMENTS

GOATS:

COURTESY

MOLLY

M.

PETERSON/STONE

BARNS

CENTER

FOR

FOOD

AND

AGRICULTURE.

SULFUR:

SUSAN

E.

DEGGINGER/SCIENCE

SOURCE.

ILLUSTRATION

BY

STEVEN

BELL.

*F.O.B.

(FREE

ON

BOARD)

PRICES

INCLUDE

SHIPPING

AND

LOADING.

DATA:

ITF/OECD,

BLOOMBERG

INTELLIGENCE

ESTIMATES

So Long,

Sulfur

16

S

Sulfur

15

P

Phosphorus

By Jack Wittels

Critics of the oil industry tend to fixate on

carbon emissions, with good reason, but

CO 2 isn’t the only undesirable byproduct

of hydrocarbons. There are also the sul-

fur oxides, emissions from the noxious

fuel that’s fed into most of the world’s

ship engines. Just one gallon of this

high-sulfur fuel contains as much of the

element as about 3,500 gallons of gaso-

line. Its emissions have been blamed for

acid rain and linked to a range of health

conditions, including lung cancer.

Three years ago, the International

Maritime Organization (IMO) issued rules

designed to cut sulfur oxides emissions

from ships by as much as 77%. The move,

which takes effect in January, is expected

to prevent legions of premature deaths,

but it’s proven anything but simple for

the energy and maritime industries.

The challenges begin with the sub-

stance itself. High-sulfur fuel oil is what’s

left over after more valuable molecules

have been extracted from crude to make

gasoline and other products. Jet-black,

sticky, pungent, and laced with refinery

waste, it’s sold on a massive scale, and

at such a discount to crude that refiners

effectively pay shippers to take it away.

Creating millions more barrels of

lower-sulfur fuel will require refiners to

Chemical fertilizer has helped

feed the world since it was

developed in 1909. But its

damage to the Earth has been

documented with increasing

alarm. The farmers at Stone

Barns Center for Food &

Agriculture in Tarrytown, N.Y., are

leading the way in eco-minded

fertilization. On the 400-plus-

acre property, donated by the

Rockefeller family, cows, sheep,

goats, pigs, and hens are rotated

around different pastures, as

is their manure, a major source

of fertilizer. Phosphorus, a key

element in the animal droppings,

is one of the most carefully

monitored on the property, says

Stone Barns farm director Jack

Algiere. He calls it the steroids

of the plant world—combined

with nitrogen and potassium, it

can turn a humble zucchini into a

show-stopping specimen.

Dan Barber, a chef and

co-owner of the property’s Blue

Hill at Stone Barns restaurant,

wants to demonstrate that

farmers can still profit if they

give up what he calls “their

single-nutrient obsession” with

elements such as phosphorus

and nitrogen. Just like too much

of anything, excess phosphorus

is harmful. Runoff containing the

fertilizer blights waterways by

stimulating overproduction of

algae and weeds.

Westchester County,

home of Stone Barns, has

banned commercial phosphate

fertilizer because of the threat it

represents to the ecology of the

Hudson River. Naturally derived

phosphorus is less soluble—

and not banned—so Stone Barns

is in the clear.

adapt processes and equipment to the

task or to buy different types of crude.

(They’ll also have to find new ways to dis-

pose of waste fuel.) Some shipowners will

comply with the rules by continuing to

buy the old fuel and installing onboard

scrubbers to remove sulfur oxides from

the exhaust, but such ships are expected

to account for little more than 10% of

marine fuel consumption next year.

The new fuels will be pricier, add-

ing to shipping expenses and, as such,

the cost of global trade. Analysts have

said the cost of diesel will rise and that

gasoline and jet fuel could also jump,

because the new marine fuels will be

competing for some of the same mol-

ecules. The economies of oil-producing

countries will also be affected. Those

whose crude yields relatively large per-

centages of high-sulfur fuel, such as

Saudi Arabia, will suffer; those selling

lighter, low-sulfur crudes, such as the

U.S., will likely benefit.

Most shipowners are expected to

comply with the rules, but there’s

significant incentive to cheat. A rough

approximation based on future prices

suggests that an owner sending a super-

tanker filled with crude from Saudi

Arabia to Houston would save $1 mil-

lion by not complying. Flouting the

rules can lead to fines and jail time, but

enforcement will be up to local author-

ities. While the Netherlands, for exam-

ple, plans to use drones to sniff out

wrongdoers, poorer countries might

find it hard to be so scrupulous.

For all this trouble, the best case is

indeed good—and indicates why the IMO

is going to the trouble. A Finnish study in

2016 estimated that, by 2025, lower sul-

fur emissions will prevent more than half

a million premature deaths from lung

cancer and heart disease alone. 

Therewasa time—2017—when

Brexitseemedtohangonchickens

washedin chlorine.Thesterilization

practiceis bannedin Europebut

commonin theU.S.,whichinsisted

it wouldn’tsigna tradedealwitha

post-EUBritainthatdidn’tinclude

itspoultry.Twoyears,oneprime

minister,andnoBrexitlater,the

possiblearrivalofchlorinatedbirds

stillrankles“remainers.”

POLITICAL

CHICKEN

 Phosphorus $0.07 / kg Phosphate rock, f.o.b.*

 Sulfur $0.08 / kg Elemental sulfur, f.o.b.

 Chlorine $0.33 / kg Liquid contract, U.S. market

CONSCIOUS FERTILIZER By Kate Krader

Estimated freight cost rise after 2020

MANUFACTURED GOODS

AGRICULTURAL GOODS

INDUSTRIAL RAW MATERIALS

4%

10%

20%

GoatsatStoneBarns