Kevin Rouwenhorst*, Louis van der Ham, Guido Mul, Sascha Kersten, University of Twente, Netherlands
15th Annual NH3 Fuel Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, October 31, 2018
NH3 Energy+ Topical Conference at the AIChE Annual Meeting
ABSTRACT
A carbon-free, circular economy is required to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. A commonly named alternative to the carbon-based economy is the hydrogen economy. However, storing and transporting hydrogen is difficult. Therefore, the ammonia economy is proposed. Ammonia (NH3) is a carbon-free hydrogen carrier, which can mediate the hydrogen economy. Especially for long-term storage (above 1 day), ammonia is more economically stored than hydrogen.
Transportation costs are greatly reduced by adopting a decentralized energy economy. Furthermore, political-economic factors influence energy prices less in a decentralized energy economy. With small-scale ammonia production gaining momentum, business models for the decentralized ammonia economy are currently under development.
Within the current research, current technological advances are reviewed, as well as their feasibility for long-term, industrial application. A process flow diagram was developed, based on the conceptual process design method by Douglas. An example case of 3.06*107 kWh y-1 electricity requirement is used. The solution constitutes of wind and solar power, combined with a battery for short-term storage (up to 1 day) and a Power-to-Ammonia-to-Power process for long-term storage (above 1 day). Continue reading
