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Topic: Ammonia Synthesis
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Hydro-electric ammonia: project design, engineering & technology selection
To design, build & operate a hydroelectric ammonia production plant fed by electrolytic hydrogen, what considerations need to be taken into account? Our recent episode of Ammonia Project Features explored this question, focusing on an upcoming project being developed in Paraguay by ATOME, URBAS and Casale. The use of surplus hydropower, existing industrial infrastructure, proactive engineering and commercially-available, flexible ammonia synthesis technologies all adds up to a less challenging task for developers, and a potential project template going forward.
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Enabling offshore production: jetty-less terminals & floating ammonia factories
Our last episode of Maritime Ammonia Insights featured new technologies being developed for the emerging offshore ammonia production industry. We explored SBM & Imodco’s jetty-less export terminal, H2Carrier’s P2X Floater vessel and CyaNH3’s FPSO hull design, as well as the unique opportunities on offer for floating ammonia producers.
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Coupling solid oxide electrolysis to ammonia production
In our January episode of Ammonia Project Features, we explored the current commercial status of solid oxide electrolysis, and its potential to be integrated with ammonia production. Rick Beuttel (Bloom Energy) and Jakob Krummenacher (LSB industries) also discussed the utilization of the technology in a new decarbonization project at LSB’s ammonia plant in Pryor, Oklahoma.
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How to reduce the LCoA of green NH3 with hybrid CSP-PV plants
The gNH3 production requires a large amount of renewable energy, where the LCoA is strongly affected by the LCoE. If it is considered only a solar solution, the low Photovoltaic (PV) technology cost can achieve competitive gH2 cost. However, the industrial NH3 plant would require power stability in a 24/7 profile, and a storage solution must be included. In this case, the Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) presents an unique and promising advantage with its dispatchability to fulfill this necessity. Therefore, a hybrid CSP+PV solution can give the best cost solution power mix for the green ammonia industry.
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Dynamic Analysis of Flex-gNH3 – a Green Ammonia Synthesis Process
The future of a decarbonised ammonia production is seen as the alignment of the intermittent production of renewable energy, energy demands and ammonia process features. The current Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis process can indeed be altered to enable green and sustainable ammonia production primarily being driven by renewable electricity. However, this will require to enhance current commercial Haber-Bosch (H-B) process flexibility with modifications to redefine the conventional H–B process with a new optimised control. The technical feasibility of green-ammonia (gNH3) process had been widely discussed and analysed focusing on its energy efficiency, the development of small-scale, distributed, modularised processes that can…
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Whither Aqueous Electro-reduction of Nitrogen to Ammonia?
Electrochemical reduction of N 2 (NRR) is widely recognised as an alternative to the traditional Haber-Bosch production process for ammonia. The high-energy efficiency, low-cost variant of this process involves an aqueous electrolyte and there is now a substantial literature on this topic. However, though the challenges of NRR experiments have become better understood, the reported rates in these aqueous solution studies are often too low to be convincing that reduction of the highly unreactive N 2 molecule has actually been achieved. Unfortunately, there are many possible impurity sources that can interfere with robust measurements. In this presentation we will discuss…
Article
Monash team publishes Ammonia Economy Roadmap
Earlier this month, Doug MacFarlane and his team of researchers at Monash University published A Roadmap to the Ammonia Economy in the journal Joule. The paper charts an evolution of ammonia synthesis “through multiple generations of technology development and scale-up.” It provides a clear assessment of “the increasingly diverse range of applications of ammonia as a fuel that is emerging,” and concludes with perspectives on the “broader scale sustainability of an ammonia economy,” with emphasis on the Nitrogen Cycle.
The Roadmap is brilliant in its simple distillation of complex and competing technology developments across decades. It assesses the sustainability and scalability of three generations of ammonia synthesis technologies. Put simply, Gen1 is blue ammonia, Gen2 is green ammonia, and Gen3 is electrochemical ammonia. It also outlines the amount of research and development required before each could be broadly adopted (“commercial readiness”). The paper thus provides vital clarity on the role that each generation of technology could play in the energy transition, and the timing at which it could make its impact.
