Government has been ignoring ‘nitrogen machine’ for years: inventor’s screeching frustration

While the government has not yet shown any interest, this is different for farmers and other companies. For example, a pilot is currently running at a chicken farmer in Brabant, where, according to the inventor himself, the machine is performing above expectations. “In laboratories, research is being done into what exactly the machine does,” says De Boer. “This shows that the device works one hundred percent. We remove 99 percent of the ammonia from the air.”

Most sustainable innovation

And the effectiveness of the ‘nitrogen machine’ is also being recognized elsewhere: just last week, De Boer won an award from the municipality of Medemblik for ‘most sustainable innovation’. The fact that the government has not yet embraced the product has led to frustration for De Boer. In addition, certification continues to wait. “It’s incomprehensible!” sighs the Opperdoezer. “In recent years, the misunderstanding has only become worse.”

De Boer already invited several members of Parliament in 2020. They were also enthusiastic. “This looks like a good solution, where we can dissolve a large part of the nitrogen in a fairly simple way,” CDA member of Parliament Willemien Koning said at the time. But three years later, little progress has been made and the device is still at De Boer in Opperdoes.

Yet De Boer is not thinking about throwing in the towel. He believes too much in his invention for that. Moreover, Opperdoezer has invested a lot in it: the development costs of the machine amount to almost half a million euros. “They can’t get rid of me, I’ll keep going,” he assures. “You also want to get your money out again. Moreover, I have been working on development for weeks, months, years. This has been running for six years.”

Secretly, De Boer hopes that with the new government that is yet to be formed, the winds of change might blow and his innovation will still be appreciated. “We can do so much in this regard,” he once again emphasizes to the future government. “Pick it up. Just start and it will be solved.”