Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of ammonia production from renewable resources and industrial by-products

Liu, Xinyu; Elgowainy, Amgad; Wang, Michael

doi:10.1039/d0gc02301a

Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of ammonia production from renewable resources and industrial by-products

Journal Article · Wed Aug 12 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Green Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/d0gc02301a· OSTI ID:1657142

Liu, Xinyu ^[1]; Elgowainy, Amgad ^[1]; Wang, Michael ^[1]

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Systems Assessment Center

Conventionally, ammonia is produced from natural gas via steam methane reforming (SMR), water-gas shift reaction, and the Haber–Bosch process. The process uses fossil natural gas, which leads to 2.6 metric tons of life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per metric ton of ammonia produced. With ammonia being the second most produced chemical in the world, its production accounts for approximately 2% of worldwide fossil energy use and generates over 420 million tons of CO₂ annually. To reduce its carbon intensity, ammonia synthesis relying on renewable energy or utilizing by-products from industrial processes is of interest. In this work, we conduct a life cycle analysis of conventional and alternative ammonia production pathways by tracking energy use and emissions in all conversion stages, from the primary material and energy resources to the ammonia plant gates. Of all the alternative pathways, obtaining N₂ from cryogenic distillation and H₂ from low-temperature electrolysis using renewable electricity has the lowest cradle-to-plant-gate GHG emissions, representing a 91% decrease from the conventional SMR pathway.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1657142

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1647879

Journal Information:: Green Chemistry, Journal Name: Green Chemistry Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 22; ISSN 1463-9262

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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