Technical-economic analysis for a green ammonia production plant in Chile and its subsequent transport to Japan

Guerra, Carlos Fúnez; Reyes-Bozo, Lorenzo; Vyhmeister, Eduardo; Caparrós, María Jaén; Salazar, José Luis; Clemente-Jul, Carmen

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2020.05.041

Cited by 108 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Ammonia is produced in large plants (1,000 to 1,500 t/day) by means of Haber-Bosch process (Soloveichik, 2017a). Globally, more than 90% of ammonia is produced from fossil fuels through this method (Hughes et al, 2015;Guerra et al, 2020). The Haber- (Giddey et al, 2013).…”

Section: Widely Adopted Ammonia Production Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Ammonia Production Processes

et al. 2021

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Due to the important role of ammonia as a fertilizer in the agricultural industry and its promising prospects as an energy carrier, many studies have recently attempted to find the most environmentally benign, energy efficient, and economically viable production process for ammonia synthesis. The most commonly utilized ammonia production method is the Haber-Bosch process. The downside to this technology is the high greenhouse gas emissions, surpassing 2.16 kgCO2-eq/kg NH3 and high amounts of energy usage of over 30 GJ/tonne NH3 mainly due to the strict operational conditions at high temperature and pressure. The most widely adopted technology for sustainable hydrogen production used for ammonia synthesis is water electrolysis coupled with renewable technologies such as wind and solar. In general, a water electrolyzer requires a continuous supply of pretreated water with high purity levels for its operation. Moreover, for production of 1 tonne of hydrogen, 9 tonnes of water is required. Based on this data, for the production of the same amount of ammonia through water electrolysis, 233.6 million tonnes/yr of water is required. In this paper, a critical review of different sustainable hydrogen production processes and emerging technologies for sustainable ammonia synthesis along with a comparative life cycle assessment of various ammonia production methods has been carried out. We find that through the review of each of the studied technologies, either large amounts of GHG emissions are produced or high volumes of pretreated water is required or a combination of both these factors occur.

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Section: Widely Adopted Ammonia Production Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Ammonia Production Processes

et al. 2021

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“…With such a material, the energy consumption can be reduced to~20.9 kWh/Kg methane with η P and η RTE values of 65% and 43%, respectively. For both the routes of process 3, 6.5 kWh/Kg ammonia is the energy requirement for hydrogen generation, 1.6 kWh/Kg is needed for the Haber Bosch process (out of which 20% contribution comes from compression [75]) and the exothermic heat (0.7 kWh/Kg) of ammonia synthesis reaction can be recycled back, bringing the net energy requirement to 7.4 kWh/Kg ammonia. The electrical energy generated in fuel cell mode is 4.7 kWh/Kg of ammonia for both internal (Route 1) and external reforming (Route 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Theoretical Study on Reversible Solid Oxide Cells as Key Enablers of Cyclic Conversion between Electrical Energy and Fuel

et al. 2021

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Reversible solid oxide cells (rSOC) enable the efficient cyclic conversion between electrical and chemical energy in the form of fuels and chemicals, thereby providing a pathway for long-term and high-capacity energy storage. Amongst the different fuels under investigation, hydrogen, methane, and ammonia have gained immense attention as carbon-neutral energy vectors. Here we have compared the energy efficiency and the energy demand of rSOC based on these three fuels. In the fuel cell mode of operation (energy generation), two different routes have been considered for both methane and ammonia; Routes 1 and 2 involve internal reforming (in the case of methane) or cracking (in the case of ammonia) and external reforming or cracking, respectively. The use of hydrogen as fuel provides the highest round-trip efficiency (62.1%) followed by methane by Route 1 (43.4%), ammonia by Route 2 (41.1%), methane by Route 2 (40.4%), and ammonia by Route 1 (39.2%). The lower efficiency of internal ammonia cracking as opposed to its external counterpart can be attributed to the insufficient catalytic activity and stability of the state-of-the-art fuel electrode materials, which is a major hindrance to the scale-up of this technology. A preliminary cost estimate showed that the price of hydrogen, methane and ammonia produced in SOEC mode would be ~1.91, 3.63, and 0.48 $/kg, respectively. In SOFC mode, the cost of electricity generation using hydrogen, internally reformed methane, and internally cracked ammonia would be ~52.34, 46.30, and 47.11 $/MWh, respectively.

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“…A variety of research shows promising technical and economic feasibility of producing hydrogen/ammonia from renewable sources and exporting to other locations in Europe or Asia [37][38][39]. In this regard, Australia [40,41], Morocco [42,43], and Chile [44,45] are in the lead with the development of green ammonia production facilities.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Ammonia-Based Electricity

Boero

Kardux²,

Ковалева

et al. 2021

Energies

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In recent years, several researchers have studied the potential use of ammonia (NH3) as an energy vector, focused on the techno-economic advantages and challenges for full global deployment. The use of ammonia as fuel is seen as a strategy to support decarbonization; however, to confirm the sustainability of the shift to ammonia as fuel in thermal engines, a study of the environmental profile is needed. This paper aims to assess the environmental life cycle impacts of ammonia-based electricity generated in a combined heat and power cycle for different ammonia production pathways. A cradle-to-gate assessment was developed for both ammonia production and ammonia-based electricity generation. The results show that electrolysis-based ammonia from renewable and nuclear energy have a better profile in terms of global warming potential (0.09–0.70 t CO2-eq/t NH3), fossil depletion potential (3.62–213.56 kg oil-eq/t NH3), and ozone depletion potential (0.001–0.082 g CFC-11-eq/t NH3). In addition, surplus heat for district or industrial applications offsets some of the environmental burden, such as a more than 29% reduction in carbon footprint. In general, ammonia-based combined heat and power production presents a favorable environmental profile, for example, the carbon footprint ranges from −0.480 to 0.003 kg CO2-eq/kWh.

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Technical-economic analysis for a green ammonia production plant in Chile and its subsequent transport to Japan

Cited by 108 publications

References 16 publications

Sustainable Ammonia Production Processes

Sustainable Ammonia Production Processes

A Theoretical Study on Reversible Solid Oxide Cells as Key Enablers of Cyclic Conversion between Electrical Energy and Fuel

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Ammonia-Based Electricity

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