Renewable Ammonia - maximising the benefits of renewable energy production as a means of decarbonising fertilizer and food production.
Currently 50% of global food production relies on the use of ammonia based fertilizers. Global sales of ammonia exceed $100 billion annually, with half of that directly relating to energy costs. 67% of world ammonia capacity is based on the use of natural gas and the fertilizer industry is the EU's largest industrial user of natural gas which represents 50-70% of total production costs. Globally the production of ammonia is responsible for 5% of the world’s natural gas consumption, which is approximately 2% of world energy production. Utilizing the Haber-Bosch process, the chemical synthesis route for ammonia production has remained essentially unchanged since the early 1900s. Conventional commercial production of ammonia is a large scale industrial process converting natural gas into gaseous hydrogen by steam reforming which is then catalytically reacted with nitrogen derived from air, to form anhydrous liquid ammonia. Hydrogen can be produced more simply and more sustainably by the electrolysis of water using electricity from renewable energy sources. By using grid connected and off-grid renewable energy sources, it is possible to both de-centralise and de-carbonise the production of ammonia bringing local, regional and national benefits for not only renewable energy utilisation but also fertilizer and food production. The project will investigate the design, construction and operation of an integrated water electrolysis, nitrogen separation and ammonium production facility at a pilot scale suitable for integration with suitable UK renewable energy resources. The study will focus on integrating existing technologies for ammonia synthesis at varying scales suitable to achieve maximum utilisation of both on and off-grid renewable energy sources. By using grid connected and off-grid renewable energy sources to produce ammonia at or near to the point of use, it will be possible to both de-centralise and de-carbonise the production of ammonia bringing local, regional and national benefits; 100% utilization of intermittent renewable energy, 100% utilization of off-grid renewable energy sources, creating a means of cost-effective local/regional/national renewable energy storage, reducing CO2, SOx and NOx emissions from the production and transport of ammonia and fertilizers, reduce the dependency on foreign imports of fertilizer, Increasing food security, increasing opportunities for sustainable rural development.