Developing Blue and Green Ammonia Infrastructure: Insights into Operations, Economics, and Distribution
Author(s)
Fernandez Otero, Carlos Arturo
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Collections
Supplementary to:
Permanent Link
Abstract
Developing blue and green ammonia infrastructure is essential to meet the rising demand for fertilizers while minimizing the environmental impacts of fertilizer production. Traditional ammonia production methods, such as the Haber-Bosch process, are energy-intensive and heavily reliant on fossil fuels, leading to significant carbon emissions. Alternatives, such as blue ammonia, which involves carbon capture and storage, and green ammonia, which utilizes electrification with renewable energy, offer more sustainable options. This dissertation investigates the operations, economics, and distribution of blue and green ammonia infrastructure, integrating thermodynamic, economic, environmental, and social metrics to evaluate low-carbon ammonia production technologies. The aim is to identify optimal deployment strategies for these technologies, considering future energy markets and geographic resource availability.
Chapter 1 discusses the significance of ammonia in synthetic fertilizers and global food production, and the future of ammonia as an energy vector. The current Haber-Bosch process, which is centralized and fossil fuel-dependent, results in high CO2 emissions. Blue and green ammonia provide viable pathways to decarbonize ammonia production. Chapter 2 is a literature review that covers various ammonia production technologies, including gray, blue, and green Haber-Bosch processes, and emerging electrochemical methods. It also discusses the techno-economics, renewable integration, and ammonia storage and distribution methods.
Chapter 3 estimates projections for future ammonia and nitric acid markets, emphasizing electrochemical nitrogen and nitrate reduction technologies. By predicting the market size and value for ammonia and nitric acid by 2050, Chapter 3 highlights the need for green alternatives to reduce carbon emissions. Chapter 4 expands the analysis by including energy consumption, costs, and emissions associated with green and blue ammonia production under different future energy market scenarios. Chapter 4 underscores the importance of renewable energy sources, carbon capture, and policy in reducing the carbon footprint of ammonia production.
Chapter 5 presents an analysis of decentralized ammonia production using renewable energy sources. Chapter 5 presents an optimization model of production and distribution networks using techno-economic models and multi-objective optimization. The findings suggest that integrating renewable energy with ammonia production can significantly lower emissions and costs, especially when production is decentralized.
Sponsor
Date
2024-07-19
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Dissertation