ammonia

Fossil-free fertilizer

November 9, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Ammonia is a major industrial commodity. About 70% of it is used to make fertilizer, with the rest for a wide range of industrial applications. Ammonia is the starting point for all mineral nitrogen fertilizers.

Typically, ammonia is a byproduct of isolating hydrogen from natural gas, which releases large amounts of carbon dioxide. On a global scale, the climate impact of ammonia production is comparable to that of air travel. The world needs more ammonia but really cannot afford the emissions that come with its production.

There are also political implications of ammonia production. Because it relies so heavily on natural gas, ammonia supply is vulnerable to disruptions from events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions imposed after the invasion have hindered fertilizer exports, driving up costs, especially in places like Africa.

A small fertilizer plant near Nairobi, Kenya will be the first farm in the world to produce its own nitrogen fertilizer on site that is free of fossil fuels. The plant is being built by an American startup company Talus Renewables and will use solar power to strip hydrogen from water. The hydrogen will then bond with nitrogen from the air to form liquid ammonia. The plant will produce one ton of ammonia each day.

The typical bag of fertilizer in sub-Saharan Africa travels 6,000 miles to get there, which of course only adds to the environmental burden of using it as well as its cost. By building a small green ammonia plant like the one coming online in Kenya, it is possible to locally produce a critical raw material in a carbon-free manner.

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Farm in Kenya First to Produce Fossil-Free Fertilizer On Site

Photo courtesy of Talus Renewables via LinkedIn.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Decarbonizing The Most Polluting Heavy Industries | Earth Wise

November 23, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The production of steel, cement, and ammonia accounts for about 20% of the carbon dioxide humans pour into the atmosphere. Modern cities are largely constructed from concrete and steel and most of our food is grown using fertilizer made from ammonia.

The most widely discussed solutions to decarbonizing these industries are green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage or CCS.

Steel manufacture is responsible for 11% of society’s emissions. Most production starts by burning coal in a blast furnace. Using CCS could reduce emissions from burning the coal. But the blast furnace could be eliminated entirely by the use of electrolysis to produce the pure iron needed to make steel. This would be extremely energy-intensive but using a low-carbon source like green hydrogen could greatly reduce the emissions from making steel.

Ammonia is made by producing hydrogen from natural gas and then combining it with atmospheric nitrogen. Both the hydrogen production and ammonia synthesis are energy intensive. Using green hydrogen would eliminate emissions from the hydrogen production itself and new research on catalysts aims at lower-temperature, less-energy intensive ammonia synthesis.

Decarbonizing cement manufacturing is perhaps the toughest challenge. Cement is made in a high-temperature kiln, typically heated by burning fossil fuels. The process converts calcium carbonate and clay into a hard solid called clinker. The main byproduct of that is even more carbon dioxide. Burning green hydrogen and capturing carbon emission are about the best hope for reducing cement manufacturing emissions.

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Can the World’s Most Polluting Heavy Industries Decarbonize?

Photo, posted June 30, 2009, courtesy of Portland Bolt via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Wastewater And Ammonia | Earth Wise

October 22, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Ammonia is the second most produced chemical in the world. More than half of it is used in agriculture to produce various kinds of fertilizer, to produce cotton defoliants that make cotton easier to pick, and to make antifungal agents for fruits. Globally, ammonia represents more than a $50 billion a year market.

Current methods to make ammonia require enormous amounts of heat – generated by burning fossil fuels – to break apart nitrogen molecules so that they can bind to hydrogen to form the compound. Ammonia production accounts for about 2% of worldwide fossil energy use and generates over 400 million tons of CO2 annually.

Engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago have created a solar-powered electrochemical reaction that uses wastewater to make ammonia and does it with a solar-to-fuel efficiency that is 10 times better than previous comparable technologies.

The process uses nitrate – which is one of the most common groundwater contaminates – to supply nitrogen and uses sunlight to power the reaction. The system produces nearly 100% ammonia with almost no hydrogen side reactions. No fossil fuels are needed, and no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases are produced. The new method makes use of a cobalt catalyst that selectively converts nitrate molecules into ammonia.

Not only is the reaction itself carbon-neutral, which is good for the environment, but if it is scaled up for industrial use, it will consume wastewater, thereby actually being good for the environment. The new process is the subject of a patent filing and the researchers are already collaborating with municipal corporations, wastewater treatment centers, and others in industry to further develop the system.

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Combining sunlight and wastewater nitrate to make the world’s No. 2 chemical

Photo, posted August 29, 2018, courtesy of Montgomery County Planning Commission via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Scaling Up Green Hydrogen | Earth Wise

April 27, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The global hydrogen market generates about $150 billion dollars a year. The bulk of the market consists of hydrogen used to produce ammonia, refine oil, and produce methanol. Advocates for hydrogen foresee a $600 billion a year market based on power and industry uses, mobility and transport uses, chemical feedstocks, and construction. But the problem with expanding the use of hydrogen is that the vast majority of hydrogen in use today is produced from fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal and producing it creates carbon dioxide emissions.

The great hope of the industry is “green hydrogen”- hydrogen produced either without using fossil fuels at all or by capturing and storing the emissions generated. The most likely approach is electrolysis – using electricity to produce hydrogen from water.

Billions of dollars are being invested by both governments and by large oil companies in a race to scale up electrolysis and make it economically attractive. According to the Hydrogen Council industry lobby group, at least $300 billion is expected to be invested globally over the next decade aimed at developing the green hydrogen that could one day meet almost a fifth of global energy demand.

Many argue that producing green hydrogen with electrolysis is an extremely inefficient way to utilize renewable energy. Critics of hydrogen-powered vehicles particularly make this argument. But industrial applications of hydrogen that currently use large amounts of fossil fuels – such as steel manufacturing – may be places where green hydrogen would make a real dent in global emissions.

The race to clean up hydrogen is definitely on.

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The Race to Scale Up Green Hydrogen to Help Solve Some of the World’s Dirtiest Energy Problems

Photo, posted December 16, 2020, courtesy of Sharon Hahn Darlin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Renewable Energy And Green Ammonia | Earth Wise

January 20, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Several different clean technology trends may come together on farms across the country where wind turbines could power devices that produce green ammonia for fertilizer and zero emission fuel.

Distributed wind is a kind of renewable energy that doesn’t get much attention. It refers to turbines that are used to generate electricity for on-site use, as for a factory or a farm. It typically involves smaller turbines than the behemoths that are used in giant wind farms.

Installing a wind turbine or two on a farm could be quite valuable if the electricity generated could be used to make green ammonia. Such an application would eliminate the problem of “stranded wind”, which is when a location has lots of wind but lacks access to the electricity transmission infrastructure.

If farmers could utilize wind energy to produce ammonia, they could make their own fertilizer as well as fuel and get relief from price spikes and uncertainties in the commodities market. Of course, they would also make use of the electricity they generate on site.

Most ammonia is produced using a proven technology called the Haber-Bosch process. Ammonia contains only nitrogen and hydrogen, both of which can be extracted from the air. The trick is how to do it efficiently using renewable electricity. The Department of Energy has a program called the REFUEL Initiative, which aims at deploying renewable energy to produce ammonia. The University of Minnesota, among other places, has multiple programs dedicated to green ammonia technology.

There is encouraging progress being made that may ultimately result in a common sight of wind turbines on farms producing fertilizer, fuel, and electricity.

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The Renewable Energy Cows Come Home, Now With Green Ammonia

Photo, posted July 15, 2009, courtesy of Daniel_Bauer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

An Incentive For Carbon Capture | Earth Wise

April 1, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Convincing industries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions has not been easy. Many approaches have been debated, including carbon taxes, carbon tax-and-trade schemes, and passing a giant Green New Deal. Most economists agree that putting a price on carbon is likely to be the most effective approach.

But there is already in place an adjustment to the US tax code that is more of a carrot than a stick. It is a tax credit that is designed to make capturing CO2 a financial winner for a number of high-emitting industries. The credit, called 45Q, was enacted in February 2018.

The 45Q credit earns industrial manufacturers $50 per metric ton of CO2 stored permanently or $35 per ton if the CO2 is put to use. An earlier credit for capturing carbon dioxide was limited to only $20 per metric ton and was capped at 75 million tons. Some large fossil fuel companies did make use of the earlier credit.

The new version does not have a cap, but to qualify, companies need to start constructing carbon-capture facilities within 7 years and have 12 years to claim their money.

Companies with emission-intensive operations are busy figuring out how to take advantage of the credit. These include cement makers, steel and power plants, corn ethanol producers, and ammonia plants.

Because the credit mandates that companies start constructing their carbon-capture facilities within seven years, most companies will tend to rely on mature technologies. But the tax credit should also drive demand for next-generation carbon-capture technologies, of which there are many under development. Saving lots of money on taxes is likely to lure US companies to capture carbon dioxide.

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